Presented by:Peggy Odegard, PharmD, BCPS, CDE, FASCPAssociate Professor, University of Washington

The Medication Adherence Program: Promoting diabetes self-management through

community pharmacies

• The American Association of Diabetes Educators Foundation, for their grant support of the study

Thank you

Thank you!MAP Study Team• Gina Carpinito, PharmD

• Dale Christensen, PhD

• David Williams, RPh

• Don Downing, RPh

• David Blough, PhD

3

• Describe the specific aims of the Medication Adherence Program (MAP) Study in Washington State

• Explain the MAP protocol for DM medication self-management support

• List the primary study findings– effect of the MAP intervention on DM

medication adherence– key interventions to facilitate resolution

of self-management challenges• Discuss study conclusions and next steps

Goals for learning…

• Adherence to prescribed DM therapy is not ideal:– Retrospective studies: 31-87% adherence– Prospective studies: 53-98% adherence– General literature: 36-85% with better

adherence to insulin• 80% adherence would mean missing a refill by 6

or more days for a 30 day supply • Missed refills may flag an adherence difficulty

* Diabetes Educator.2007;33(6)

Taking Medications is a Challenge!

1. Regimen complexity2. Dosing frequency greater than twice

daily3. Remembering doses and refills4. Depression5. Adverse effects or fearing them6. Understanding the regimen7. Belief and confidence in therapy8. Cost9. Ability to read the prescription label

Diabetes Educator.2007;33(6)

The challenges

• Specific aims– To identify medication self-care

challenges for people with diabetes– To improve medication self-care for

patients with diabetes• Study Hypothesis

– A personal, diabetes-care focused call by the pharmacist in follow-up to a missed diabetes prescription refill will improve adherence

MAP Study

Study Design: Randomized, controlled trial, N=265◦ 4 participating Safeway pharmacies

120 MAP intervention patients 145 control (no-intervention, usual pharmacy care)

patients Intervention:

◦ Personal telephone call from pharmacist to patient who missed an oral DM Rx refill by 6 or more days.

◦ Call used to address medication self-management challenges and to promote optimal diabetes care

Map Study

• “Hello. This is (name), your Safeway pharmacist. I am calling to check in and see how you are doing with your diabetes management (discussion Q&A)

• I noticed that you did not refill your (drug name) this month. Would you like me to refill it now? Was there a reason that you didn’t refill it?”– Subsequent discussion allows for

initiation of intervention actions

MAP Call Script

• Judy is a 67 year old, overweight female with type 2 DM, HTN, painful neuropathy, and high cholesterol who is late to refill her glyburide and metformin by 6 days

• Meds:– Glyburide 10 mg po BID– Metformin 1 gm po BID– Enalapril 40 mg po daily– Hydrochlorothiazide 25 mg po daily – Atorvastatin 40 mg po BID – Gabapentin 800 mg TID

• A call to Judy reveals– “yes, I take my pills every day but I don’t have any refills left on

the prescriptions. I thought I needed new prescriptions from my doctor but I haven’t been able to make an appointment yet”

• Pharmacy note:– blood pressure last month 146/92 mmHg– blood glucose last month 218 mg/dL fasting– log book: fasting glucose last two weeks all above 200 mg/dL

Case example…

The pharmacist offered to call Judy’s physician for refill authorization and encouraged her to come in the same day to minimize gap in therapy

Judy was instructed to call the pharmacy for future refill needs and they will contact the doctor for authorization

Encouragement of her continued use of the medicine was provided

Referral to provider for diabetes check up recommended due to recent bp and glucose results

The intervention

Question 1: What services did pharmacists perform, and what were their views about this added service?

Question 2: Did the intervention improve DM medication adherence?

Adherence to specific medications “medication possession ratio” or “MPR”

============================== Question 3: What were the predictors of poor

adherence prior to the intervention?

Question 4: What factors contributed most to the change in MPR in the 12 month follow-up period?

MAP Study: Analysis

Characteristic Control (N=145) Intervention (N=120) p value

Age (years (SD)) 61 (13) 65 (13) 0.015

% female 50.3 53.8 NS

# different Rxs/12 months

56.4 (42) 59.7 (37) NS

% insulin use 23 23 NS

Medication complexity Score*

23.4 23.9 NS

MPR DM meds, 12 months pre

0.84 0.86 NS

Refill gap (max) 22.7 22.3 NS

% MPR >0.8 65.2 74.4 0.029

MAP Study: Baseline

* Complexity score=# unique meds x mean #doses per day

Problem reported by patients (N=119)

Frequency (% of sample)

Difficulty with taking DM medication 32 (27)

- remembering dose 29 (24)

- reading Rx label 6 (5)

- side effects 6 (5)

- hypoglycemia 5 (4)

- gastrointestinal upset 5 (4)

Forget to order refills 31 (26)

Forget to pick up refills 9 (8)

Baseline Medication Self-Management Problems

Question 1: What services did pharmacists perform, and what were their

views about this added service?

Actions Intervention Characteristics Mean (SD)

# visits per subject 3.4 (2.4)

Time on calls with subject (minutes) 12.6 (10.7)

Actions # subjects (%)

DM Education 42 (35)

Adherence Support 48 (40)

Optimize regimen through consultation with prescriber

7 (6)

Economic adjustment (e.g. changed to generic)

3 (3)

Pharmacists Impressions (N=7) Question Yes No Maybe

Was a report on missed refills helpful?

7 0 0

Was call focused on DM needs? 7 (reported as DM med ed or DM care)

0 0

Did you feel prepared to answer questions about DM ?

6 1 0

Would a CDE have been helpful to your patients?

4 1 – not practical in retail setting

2 – patients not at readiness level

Was the $10 reimbursement per call sufficient?

6 0 1

If a report were made available after the study, would you use it?

4 2, not enough time to call

1

Question 2: Did the intervention improve DM

medication adherence?

Medication Possession Ratio (MPR)

independent t-test

Improved for intervention over 12 months (p=0.012). Control change was not significant.

independent t-test difference between differences

Yes – the change in MPR for intervention was significant as compared to control between baseline and 12 months, P=0.004P=0.004

Is this change in MPR meaningful?

MP

R C

hang

e

• Intervention subjects were 4.77 times more likely than control subjects to achieve an oral DM medication adherence rate greater than 80% during the 12 month intervention follow-up period

Likelihood of oral DM medication adherence rate above 80%?

Effect Odds Ratio 95% Confidence Limits

Intervention versus Control

4.77 1.996-11.403

* Logistic regression model included demographic, medication, and baseline adherence variables

• The regression model which included demographic variables, regimen complexity, and prior oral DM 12 month adherence measures, explained 70% of the change in MPR scores during the post period.

• Statistically significant predictors of MPR change:

– Low MPR during the prior period (p<0.0001)

– Less resistance to taking meds (p=0.04)

– Less time needed with the pharmacist (p=0.001)

Predictors of MPR improvement during the 12 month post period among STUDY patients

• Pharmacies performing the most interventions were those who integrated late refill messages into the daily dispensing workflow

• Days late for refills is an easy but imprecise indicator of adherence problems, as it generates false + signals if drugs were obtained from other sources

• Key reasons patients give for sub-optimal adherence:

– forgot to refill prescriptions

– forgot to take doses of medications.

• Challenges in optimizing pharmacy-based DM interventions:

• Patients who do not pick up their own medication refills• Patients using both community and mail order pharmacies• Patients using multiple physicians for diabetes care

MAP Study: Lessons Learned

Because adults with DM visit pharmacies more often than they visit any other health professional, it is believed that there is an untapped opportunity for pharmacists to provide self-management education and support for medications. A community pharmacy-based medication adherence service for DM patients based on late refill alerts is feasible with adequate training and incentives.

This study shows that

a brief telephone follow-up by pharmacists in response to missed refills improves DM medication adherence

individuals with low prior adherence and those who are not resistant to using medications will have the greatest impact on adherence from the intervention

Individuals who require more time may not be as responsive to the intervention

Effective interventions involved:

◦ Patient education

◦ Adherence support – integrating dosing with ADLs

◦ Advice regarding prevention of side effects

Conclusions

Questions?