Pharmaceutical News 2.0

Tue Apr 28, 2009 5:21pm EDT

Polypharmacy Analysis Indicates Reduced ER Visits, Fewer Hospitalizations, and
Lower Healthcare Costs

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE, Wash.–(Business Wire)– Emergency room visits and hospitalizations fell among patients who received medication safety education, according to an analysis of Premera Blue Cross’s nationally recognized Polypharmacy Program.

In a recent two-year assessment of nearly 13,000 Premera members, Seattle-based health services researchers observed a 1.2 percentage point decrease in persons having ER visits and a 1 percentage point decrease in persons having hospitalizations after members were mailed a simple brown bag with a set of instructions.

PATIENT SAFETY IS THE GOAL

Patients were asked to fill the brown bag with all their prescriptions, over-the-counter medications, and supplements and to take the bag to their next doctor`s appointment for review. Premera had found many of its members not only were receiving multiple medications but also had multiple doctors. By putting all the drugs in one place, a provider could assess the appropriateness of the medications and change dosages if necessary.

The new analysis, whose key findings are now being released, noted that pharmacy utilization did increase after the program materials were mailed. A reduction in total healthcare costs was also observed by Premera based on a review of relevant claims data.

However, Ed Wong, Premera’s vice president of Pharmacy Services, points out that the Polypharmacy Program was never intended to save money on drug costs. “The goal of this program has always been patient safety,” says Wong. “Our intention with this brown bag review is for patients to get a better assortment of drugs and suffer fewer adverse reactions.”

Premera has mailed out approximately 150,000 bags since the program began in 2001. The bags are sent to members in Washington, Oregon and Alaska who are 19 and older and who are taking five or more drugs daily over a three-month period for chronic conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension or high cholesterol.

ANALYSIS INDICATES DECREASED HOSPITALIZATIONS

In one of the key observations, the researchers found that 22.8 percent of the patients had gone to the emergency room in the year before they had received their brown bags, while 21.6 percent went during the year after they had taken part in the program. Meanwhile, 12.9 percent had been hospitalized the year prior to the program, compared to 11.9 percent the year after.

The program has drawn national media coverage and has been highlighted in an advertising campaign by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. In annual surveys, an average 51 percent of respondents since 2001 have reported undergoing a medication review, while 51 percent said they found the informational brochures in the bags to be somewhat to very valuable.

Read more about Premera Blue Cross’s drug safety program.

drug safety drug safety

The counterfeiting and adulterating of legal drugs is not going away anytime soon. From examining the drug and packaging of any of your prescriptions, to writing your congress representatives, there are some steps we patients can take to begin to improve the safety of our drug supply.

The following is a list of steps patients can take to defend against counterfeit drugs. The list is reprinted with permission from Dangerous Doses, by Katherine Eban, and edited with additional information for About.com’s Empowered Patients site.

This advice is offered for both drug prescription drugs obtained through a pharmacy, and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs purchased from any store or through the Internet.

Watch What You Take

• Be familiar with your medicine. If it is a medicine you have taken for awhile, you will know exactly what it should look like. Examine its shape, color and size. If it looks different in any way, or if it tastes different from what you have been used to, return it to the pharmacy immediately, and ask for it to be examined.
  If it is a new medicine to you, then research its appearance and description online. If there are discrepancies, or you have questions, ask your pharmacist to examine it while you watch and ask for assurance that the drug is what it should be.
• Look for altered or unsealed packaging, or changes in the package design.
• Make sure the packaging is pristine and has no sticky residue, which can indicate the drug was previously dispensed.

Learn more about what you should look for when deterimining if you have counterfeit drugs.

counterfeit drugs counterfeit drugs