Pharmacies push medication synchronization

Oct. 19--Been hearing about how your pharmacy can save you time and money?

Its the latest trend: medication synchronization. It is an attempt by pharmacies to get customers to come in once to get all of their prescription drugs, hailed as a time-saving and money-saving opportunity.

While the marketing is true, pharmacists say, part of the reason it is being offered in increasing numbers is to cut business costs and remain in good standing with insurance companies.

Beyond the money, the synchronization programs might make people healthier, said John Greene, Bi-Lo's pharmacy district manager for the New Orleans region. Greene led the grocery chain's pilot program in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama before it rolled out the medication synchronization to the rest of its stores, including the Augusta area.

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy call these refill-coordination programs an important way to get patients to stick to taking multiple drugs over extended periods. The organization said a 2013 survey showed that one-third of people older than 40 who stopped taking their drugs and didn't tell their doctor did so because the prescription ran out.

If people are getting their monthly prescriptions at one time, they are more likely to get all the medications, and take them, Greene said. If people are making multiple trips to the pharmacy in a month, it is easy to put off one of those trips and interrupt the medication regimen.

Barney's Pharmacy in Augusta started its medication sync program about three months ago. It has between 50 and 75 customers enrolled to get their prescriptions filled on one day, with calls going out when the order is ready, said Emily Carmichael, the clinical pharmacy director.

"Patients are now coming in and asking for it, so the word has gotten out," Carmichael said.

Patients save time and gas money under the programs, and pharmacies save through inventory control and fewer work hours.

"When you come in once a month, we know ahead of time that you're going to get your nine prescriptions. It is a lot more likely we're going to have your drug in stock," Greene said. Work hours can be adjusted for pharmacies that appear to have busy days, he added.

At Barney's, which has a delivery service, making one trip to a customer's house saves fuel costs and driver time, said owner Barry Bryant.

"Our delivery drivers are making two or three trips a week to the same house because they can't get all their stuff together," he explained.

This mutually beneficial arrangement did not come from the normal way a trend begins. It was not born from an idea to gain a competitive advantage, but rather from changes to Medicare through the Affordable Care Act.

"Compliance and adherence rates are a national issue," said BJ Cobb, the senior manager of pharmacy professional services for Bi-Lo Winn-Dixie. "It has come to the forefront recently to measure who is taking their medication and who is not, the outcomes and how many people end up back in the doctor's office because they didn't take their medication."

The Medicare drug program has star ratings, and three of the categories are based on adherence, she said.

So the health insurance companies are ranked.

"However, insurance companies are passing the buck onto pharmacies," Carmichael said. "Every pharmacy wants to have a good star rating because if we don't we could potentially lose our contracts with insurance companies. That is our incentive."

In the pharmacy world, compliance is patients with recurring prescriptions picking them up 80 percent of the time.

Greene said the average person on multiple prescriptions picks refills 55 percent of the time. With medication synchronization, though, that compliance number hits 82 percent.

"It would seem odd that an insurance company would be interested in people taking medications because that's more money they pay out, but not when compared to the cost of hospitalization for not taking the meds," he said.

And though the programs have been born out of changes to Medicare Part D, it is available to all customers, Car­michael said.

"We want to be a pharmacy with hundreds of patients in med sync, so that's what we're working toward," she said.

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