With Custom Health’s technology, pharmacists have the power to improve medication adherence – directly benefiting patient health, decreasing costs for the overall healthcare system and increasing their own pharmacy’s revenues.
The benefits of medication adherence for patients are obvious – taking a medication in full, as prescribed, improves patient safety and well-being. However, statistics demonstrate that the benefits of medication adherence for pharmacies and the healthcare industry in general go beyond patient care and customer service, offering significant cost savings.
The return on investment in medication adherence is staggering; every dollar spent on pharmacists’ patient care services realizes healthcare savings of $16.70. This astounding figure is further backed by clinical outcome statistics, for example, fracture risk was shown to be reduced by 26% among patients who were more than 80% adherent to their osteoporosis medications. For heart failure, which has a high mortality rate and requires frequent hospital readmission, pharmacist intervention has been shown to save the healthcare industry nearly $3,000 per patient.
Further motivating pharmacists, The American Pharmacists Association Foundation estimates pharmacies lose 20-30% in revenue due to non-adherence to doctors’ prescriptions.
The data is clear: the ability to make lasting change to the health outcomes of patients and to increase the ROI on healthcare dollars is directly in the hands of pharmacists. We believe pharmacists are certainly able to accomplish these objectives – but they need advanced adherence tools to do so.
Custom Health's suite of products are providing pharmacy solutions to transform the issue of non-adherence – not only improving health outcomes but also decreasing costs and increasing revenue. Pharmacists are empowered to take a true leadership role in directly improving medication adherence through active patient engagement.
Technology is making it affordable for pharmacies to engage their patients like never before, enabling real-time access to a patient’s medication schedule with the ability to actually extend their clinical reach into the homes of patients with live communication via a smart mobile app and in-home medication dispenser. Pharmacies are also given the ability to provide evidence to reimbursement providers that they have raised the bar as a healthcare provider.
We have recently launched the AdhereNet™ platform, which enables pharmacists to engage with patients and effectively manage medication adherence through dashboards, tracking, and reporting that are fully integrated in real-time. As a fully scalable medication management solution, AdhereNet™ works effectively with one patient, or with tens of thousands of patients.
The networking capabilities offered by AdhereNet™ allow pharmacies to rapidly and cost-effectively offer adherence packaging, track that packaging to the patient, and then alert the patient to take their medication on-time and as-prescribed. AdhereNet™ offers seamless integration with other pharmacy solutions including packaging automation hardware and central fills, along with the MyMedTimes™ mobile app and spencer® medication dispenser for patients at home and the oneMAR® electronic medication administration record for nurses in long-term care.
MyMedTimes™ lets patients know which medications to take and when, and the interactive pharmacy dashboard allows pharmacists to monitor outcomes and to intervene with communication if non-adherence becomes an issue. The dashboard also provides info and data which the pharmacy can provided to demonstrate they are tracking adherence and are managing patient compliance. spencer® is an advanced in-home medication dispenser that manages patient medication adherence and connects patients, caregivers and pharmacists via notifications and communications.
Pharmacists now have the power to bring about major change for their patient’s well-being, benefiting the entire healthcare system and their own revenues. Custom Health's pharmacy solutions improve quality, efficiency, and safety across the medication delivery ecosystem, lowering hospital and nursing home admissions, but also directly affecting the bottom line for pharmacies – increasing revenue and return on investment.
Beyond patient care, the potential for cost savings are enormous. Pharmacies not offering these medication adherence pharmacy solutions are likely to fall behind, in the customer service they provide, in their ability to demonstrate compliance to payers, and in their ability to generate revenue.
Medication adherence is a crucial issue for pharmacists, and Custom Health’s pharmacy solutions provide the tools to increase patient medication compliance. Learn more about Custom Health’s suite of products.