HealthWinks by Pleio

Special thanks to Mike Fiorentino, Regina Mears and Diogo for their dedication to bringing the Pleio HealthWinks to life!

Aetna to Cut Co-Pays for Heart Patients to Increase Drug Use - But Are Out-Of-Pocket Costs The Problem?

Would you be more likely to take medicine for a chronic health condition if you didn't have to pay for it? A recent study conducted by the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and sponsored by health insurance company Aetna has shown that, for many people with heart disease, the issue isn't as black and white as it may seem.

The research, reported today at the American Heart Association meeting in Orlando, Florida, found dropping co-pays helped 40 to 55 percent of patients take drugs as prescribed, compared with 36 to 49 percent. The move lowered heart attack and stroke risk by 14 percent, according to the study.

“We’re moving in the right direction and pushing up patient adherence to prescriptions,” said [Lonny] Reisman, a cardiologist and study co-author. “The bad news is there are a lot of other things getting in the way of patients taking their medicines and even with no co-pays only about half of people are complying.”

Read the full story here.

Retail Pharmacists Part of Prescription to Improve Medication Adherence

Want to improve medication adherence in patients? Make retail pharmacists part of the prescription, recommends new market research from the Healthcare Intelligence Network.

The use of motivational interviewing, often by retail or community pharmacists, scored high on the list of tools to improve medication adherence levels.

Download this white paper on improving medication adherence and compliance here.

Can Social Media Assist With Medication Adherence?

An interesting blog post from Jason Boies at the Radian6 Community Engagement Team explores the uses of social media in promoting adherence:

-  The University of Iowa Children’s Hospital has turned to Facebook to remind teenagers to take their medications on time with their Iowa Medminder application. Indeed, healthcare professionals have realized that with the younger demographics, it’s not official until it’s on Facebook.

Read the full post here.

Patient Empowerment: Good for Patients and Physicians Alike

As physician Jay Parkinson notes [...] “Most health solutions aren’t medical — they’re social.”

A brief, insightful article on patient empowerment from NumeraHealth.

Pleio Recognized on Capitol Hill

URAC Presentation - Supporting Patient Medication Adherence: Ensuring Coordination, Quality and Outcomes

Meet the Pleio GoodStarters

Pleio GoodStart Effect Different for Men and Women

Our partners at Kerr Drugs did a great job rolling out their Pleio GoodStart program. Men aged 40-70 refilled an average of four extra prescriptions over 18 months and women refilled an average of 2 more prescriptions. LINK

Pleio GoodStart Adds 84 Pills/Patient over 18 Months

We've been analyzing data on our first pilot program for a few weeks and excited to report strong long-term results. We'll be issuing a press release this week and explaining the results in more depth at upcoming conferences in San Diego and Philadelphia. Here's the release:

Montreal, QC, Canada — August 17, 2010
Pleio Helps Chains Boost Adherence in Boomers: 84 More Pills per Patient Over 18 Months

Prescription data collected by three pharmacy chains over two years reveals that ‘baby boomers’ who participated in a Pleio GoodStart™ Program offered by their pharmacy took an average of 84 additional doses of their blood pressure medication over their first 18 months of therapy compared to a similar control group.

Pleio GoodStart™ helped chains improve adherence to a once-daily blood pressure medication regimen through its integrated offering of phone-based coaching, daily voice and text message reminders, and medication therapy management services carried out by chain pharmacists. Patient enrolment occurred from May 2008 to March 2009.

Thirty months of prescription data for 404 patients was collected from pharmacies in North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland for the period of January 2008 to June 2010. Patients of comparable age and sex were selected for the 670-person control group.

About Pleio Health Support Systems and Pleio GoodStart™

Pleio Health Support Systems partners with pharmacy chains in 48 US states and 3 Canadian provinces to deliver Pleio GoodStart medication adherence programs. Pleio’s GoodStart program, now in its third year, helps pharmacy chains improve medication adherence through Rx refill trend analysis, management of medication adherence protocols, execution of programmable text and voice messaging, and live patient contact services.

Non-adherence with medication therapy hurts patients and their families, employers and insurers, pharmaceutical manufacturers and pharmacy chains. According to a 2009 New England Healthcare Institute report, patients who do not take their medications as prescribed by their doctors cost the U.S. health care system an estimated $290 billion in avoidable medical spending every year.

Learn More

Pleio will release more details on Pleio GoodStart™ results and opportunities at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores Technology Conference in San Diego, CA on August 28, 2010, and at the Patient Engagement and Adherence Conference in Philadelphia, PA on October 19, 2010.

Contact
Jean Lalonde, Co-CEO
(956) 566-5729 or (514) 369-9995
info@pleio.com
Pleio Health Support Systems, Inc.
5890 Monkland Ave. suite 11
Montreal, Canada H4A 1G2
www.pleio.com

Computer-Controlled Self-Administration Injection System Approved

Milestone Scientific Receives Notice of Allowance From US Patent and Trademark Office for Computer-Controlled Self-Administration Injection System

Feel Better in 10 Seconds for Just $10: Text "HAITI" to 90999

If you haven't donated yet, you can text “HAITI” to 90999 to give $10 to Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti.

Mail-Order May Help People Stick to Med Regimens

A new study shows that 84.7% of people who order their medications by mail stick to their routines, whereas local pharmacy purchases only saw a 76.9% adherence rate.

"Our findings indicate that mail-order pharmacies streamline the medication acquisition process, which is associated with better medication adherence," said lead researcher Dr. O. Kenrik Duru.

LINK

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Aging group awards first IT grants to support med adherence

Showing strong support for technology dissemination, the Center for Technology and Aging has awarded $477,000 to five groups in an effort to boost medication adherence among older patients with chronic conditions

LINK

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