Reports Summarize Medicare and Medicaid Findings from PhRMA (Does Good Medication Adherence Really Save Payers Money?)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Managed Care Weekly Digest -- Research findings on Medicare and Medicaid are discussed in a new report. According to news originating from Washington, District of Columbia, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, "Despite a growing consensus that better adherence with evidence-based medications can save payers money, assertions of cost offsets may be incomplete if they fail to consider additional drug costs and/or are biased by healthy adherer behaviors unobserved in typical medical claims-based analyses. The objective of this study was to determine whether controlling for healthy adherer bias (HAB) materially affected estimated medical cost offsets and additional drug spending associated with higher adherence."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from PhRMA, "A total of 1273 Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes enrolled in Part D plans between 2006 and 2009. Using survey and claims data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, we measured medical and drug costs associated with good and poor adherence (proportion of days covered >= 80% and <80%, respectively) to oral antidiabetic drugs, ACE inhibitors/ARBs, and statins over 2 years. To test for HAB, we estimated pairs of regression models, one set containing variables typically controlled for in conventional claims analysis and a second set with survey-based variables selected to capture HAB effects. We found consistent evidence that controlling for HAB reduces estimated savings in medical costs from better adherence, and likewise, reduces estimates of additional adherence-related drug spending. For ACE inhibitors/ARBs we estimate that controlling for HAB reduced adherence-related medical cost offsets from $6389 to $4920 per person (P < 0.05). Estimates of additional adherence-related drug costs were 26% and 14% lower in HAB-controlled models (P < 0.05). These results buttress the economic case for action by health care payers to improve medication adherence among insured persons with chronic disease."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "However, given the limitations of our research design, further research on larger samples with other disease states is clearly warranted."

For more information on this research see: Does Good Medication Adherence Really Save Payers Money? Medical Care, 2015;53(6):517-523. Medical Care can be contacted at: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Two Commerce Sq, 2001 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA. (Lippincott Williams and Wilkins - www.lww.com; Medical Care - journals.lww.com/lww-medicalcare/pages/default.aspx)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from B.C. Stuart, PhRMA, Dept. of Policy Res, Washington, DC, United States. Additional authors for this research include M.L. Dai, J. Xu, F.H.E. Loh and J.S. Dougherty (see also Medicare and Medicaid).

Keywords for this news article include: Washington, United States, Health Policy, District of Columbia, Medicare and Medicaid, North and Central America,

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