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Evidence continues to mount that heightened levels of medication adherence correlate to reduced hospitalizations and emergency room visits, especially among Medicare patients.

A CVS Caremark Corporation study published in "Health Affairs" in 2011 found that patients who take medications as doctors direct may save the healthcare system as much as $7,800 per patient annually. The study also found that these patients experienced fewer ER visits and inpatient hospital stays.

2011 Benchmarks in Improving Medication Adherence provides actionable information from 162 healthcare organizations on their efforts to improve medication adherence and compliance in their populations. This second annual analysis of medication adherence programs documents the impact of these programs on adherence levels, medication costs, ER visits, hospital and nursing home admissions, risk of death and other areas of concern.

New in the 2011 Edition: This all-new follow-up to the best-selling 2010 edition contains comparative 2010-over-2011 data on key activities, as well as new data on the emerging role and responsibilities of the community pharmacist in medication adherence efforts.

Download the executive summary of 2011 Benchmarks in Improving Medication Adherence.

Medication adherence efforts figure prominently into many key initiatives rolled out from healthcare reform — from care transition management, where insufficient education and errors can lead to non-adherence, to accountable care organizations and patient-centered medical homes, where provider reimbursement and rewards are closely tied to patient compliance, satisfaction, clinical outcomes and appropriate use of healthcare services.

This 50-page resource provides all-new metrics and measures on current and planned medication adherence programs as well as program elements, lessons learned, challenges and benefits and early returns from successful medication adherence initiatives.

This exclusive report analyzes the responses of 162 healthcare organizations to HIN's second annual Industry Survey on Improving Medication Adherence administered in August 2011, presenting the data in more than 40 easy-to-follow graphs and tables.

This report provides qualitative data from overall respondents and also drills down to responding health plans' views on:

• Current and planned medication adherence programs;
• Populations and conditions targeted by medication adherence efforts;
• The top strategies to improve medication adherence, including metrics on the use of financial incentives, medication packaging, motivational interviewing, pharmacist counseling and patient aids;
• Inclusion of the pharmacist on medication adherence program team and trends in involvement by the retail or community pharmacist;
• Trends in reimbursement for efforts related to medication adherence, including patient education and medication reconciliation/review;
• Technologies and data sharing utilized by medication management programs;
• The top five tools to assess and monitor medication adherence;
• Availability of medication adherence programs in the primary care office, at hospital discharge, during home visits and other points of care;
• Statistics on health professional contact with patients for the purposes of improving medication adherence (by PCP, nurse practitioner, pharmacist, health coach, and case manager);
• The impact of medication adherence programs on patient compliance with care plans, ER visits, hospital and nursing home admissions, adverse drug events, member/patient satisfaction and ROI and other metrics;
• The complete August 2011 Medication Adherence survey tool;

This industry snapshot is enhanced with a discussion by Janice Pringle, Ph.D, director of the program evaluation research unit at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, who shares some of the tools and strategies that pharmacists are using to improve adherence benchmark levels.

Download the executive summary of the 2011 Benchmarks in Improving Medication Adherence.