Prescribe Wellness Automated Digital Intervention (ADI) Effectiveness to Increase Medication Adherence
Terry Olson1
1Prescribe Wellness
Journal MTM 1:4S:43, 2012
DOI:10.7309/jmtm.64
Abstract
Medication non-adherence is pervasive within all areas of the U.S. health care system. Non-adherence has been estimated to range between 17 and 80%: involving 38% of patients on short-term treatment, 43% of patients on long-term treatment, and 75% of patients instructed to make a lifestyle change (DiMatteo, 1994). Approximately 133 million Americans, almost half of the country’s population, live with at least one chronic disease (CDC, 2010). It is estimated that by 2020, 164 million people will be diagnosed with a chronic disease, and 24% of all Americans will have two or more chronic conditions (CDC, 2010). Improving medication adherence can have a great potential to contribute to effective chronic disease state management and overall better health outcomes.
Prescribe Wellness, LLC partnered with leading local pharmacies in the Greater Los Angeles area to create a supplemental Automated Digital Intervention (ADI) to be used with patient-centered Medication Therapy Management (MTM) sessions. This proprietary first generation ADI template, aimed to increase medication adherence through the pharmacy’s intervention process, sends out appropriate motivational, behavioral, and educational messages through timely and relevant communications using the Voice of Authority (VOA).
The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine whether a relationship exists between the PrescribeWellness’ ADI and patient medication adherence. The relationship between variables was examined by implementing descriptive statistics and Chi-squared analysis. Pharmacy patients (n=12) were taken through a standard MTM session followed by ADI voice messaging during the subsequent 90-day period. Results showed there was an association between PrescribeWellness’ ADI and patient medication adherence, as medication adherence rates increased from 66.7% to 85.7%. Additional findings showed there was an increase in adherence rates for those patients with chronic conditions of hyperlipidemia (60% to 93.3%), hypertension (76.2% to 90.5%) and diabetes (47.6% to 57.1%).
