New Managed Care and Specialty Pharmacy Study Findings Have Been Reported by Investigators at University of Colorado (Pharmacist-supported Electronic Outreach To Address Medication Nonadherence for Medicare Advantage Enrollees): Drugs and Therapies – Managed Care and Specialty Pharmacy

2025 FEB 12 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- Data detailed on Drugs and Therapies - Managed Care and Specialty Pharmacy have been presented. According to news reporting from Aurora, Colorado, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Improved medication adherence, represented as an increase in the proportion of days covered (PDC), to chronic medications is associated with better patient outcomes, yet effective strategies to improve adherence are often resource intensive. To quantify the impact of a pharmacist-supported electronic outreach initiative on medication adherence measures and to qualitatively evaluate patient engagement with and response to electronic messaging.
METHODS: This retrospective cohort evaluation used mixed methods to assess the impact of a population health quality improvement program to address medication adherence for Medicare Advantage enrollees.”

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the University of Colorado, “The intervention was performed between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2023, by population health teams supporting the University of Colorado Primary Care practices. The teams reviewed insurer-provided lists to identify patients late to refill a medication and sent an electronic health message, a mailed letter, or a phone call conveying concern for adherence. Patient responses requiring clinical intervention or education were triaged to clinical pharmacists for management per their clinical discretion. The proportion of Medicare Advantage enrollees classified as adherent, defined as PDC value of 0.8 or higher, was compared before (2022) and after implementation of the population-based outreach intervention for the 2023 plan year. Qualitative methods were used to evaluate patient response to electronic messages. The text of all patient replies to electronic messages was thematically analyzed and categorized. The proportion of patients classified as adherent to diabetes medications was higher in the postintervention group (87.5%) compared with the preintervention group (83.4%, P =0.021), whereas the adherence rates in the post- vs prehypertension (89.3% vs 88.7%, P = 0.517) and cholesterol (89.4% vs 89.2%, P = 0.721) groups were not significantly different. The population health teams sent 1,593 electronic health record messages, 1,185 (74.4%) of which were opened, and patients responded to 516 (32.4%). The most common patient response was patients self-reporting being adherent (306, 59.3%); fewer patients admitted to some degree of nonadherence (111, 21.5%). An equal number of patients reported appreciation for (111, 21.5%) and confusion about or irritation with the outreach (111, 21.5%). The University of Colorado Medicine’s population health initiative provided mixed results on medication adherence metrics.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Electronic health record messaging provided insight into ways to improve the intervention to better engage and assist patients.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Pharmacist-supported Electronic Outreach To Address Medication Nonadherence for Medicare Advantage Enrollees. Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy, 2025;31(1):33-41. Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy can be contacted at: Acad Managed Care Pharmacy, 100 N Pitt St, 400, Alexandria, VA 22314-3134, USA.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Sarah J. Billups, University of Colorado, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Aurora, CO 80045, United States. Additional authors for this research include Natasha Virrueta, Trevor Beutel, Oliver Titus, Sydney Peauroi and Valerie Valdiviez.

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