Posts Tagged ‘adherence 2.0’

The Best Things in Life are Free!

04/01/2010 , 11:11 AM by Kevin Aniskovich

It’s not everyday that I use this blog to repurpose a message sent to Intelecare members; in fact, I’ve never used it for such a reason.  But in this age of social media, news comes in all shapes and sizes, and this is one such message we felt would be of interest to the broadest of audiences.  If I’m wrong, I’m certain I’ll hear about it!  Below is the content of the message.

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Intelecare Members:

I want to thank you for selecting Intelecare as your choice for personal reminders.  We are proud to have built our organization over the years based on support from members like you. Delivering nearly 7 million reminder messages every single day, Intelecare has been able to achieve this milestone thanks to our dedicated staffers, enthusiastic clients and loyal members.

Never a group to rest on our laurels, Intelecare sought feedback and released our new interface last quarter to much fanfare. We launched with a more intuitive, user friendly experience complete with options found in no other platform of its kind. At Intelecare, increasing medical adherence is our only goal – it’s what we do each and every day. And today, well today is no exception in our quest to drive adherence while thanking our loyal members.

Today, I am happy to announce that Intelecare is free, for each and every patient and caregiver. Effective immediately, Intelecare will no longer offer premium subscription levels but rather offer our full suite of solutions at no charge. And what’s more, your Intelecare Online account will permit you to access your membership account through our iPad and iPhone Editions, scheduled to be released in April. We believe your information should be able to be accessed that way it makes the most sense to you.

If you previously had a Basic membership, we have already upgraded your account. Plus and Platinum members, we have cancelled your monthly subscription payment as of today. There is nothing to do except rediscover your Intelecare account and enjoy your added features.

This is just the beginning of the very exciting 2010. And I mean very! Stay tuned…

Be well,

Kevin J. Aniskovich
President & Chief Executive Officer

Patient 2.0 Blog

07/16/2008 , 11:35 AM by Alex Sicre

A colleague of mine, Emily Stanziale, has started her own blog: Patient 2.0.

This blog chronicles her evolution as a patient in today’s modern world, who uses both traditional and holistic methods for achieving better health. As with our Adherence 2.0 model, no patient is the same, and I can obviously say ditto for personal health blogs.

Over the last few months, she has suffered some ailments, and her doctor has had a difficult time deciphering what was wrong. This has lead her to re-examine her PCD’s role, and search for answers. She is very honest with what she has been going through and well informed about the industry, as she works in pharma sales.

Please visit her blog to see her unique perspective on her own health, today’s healthcare industry and Health 2.0. I hope you enjoy!

Improving medication adherence with a targeted, technology-driven disease management intervention

, 10:36 AM by Alex Sicre

I found this abstract in NCBI: Pub Med from a BCBS of South Carolina study. The results definitely support our Adherence 2.0 model. The question is, should mail order pharmacies start sending refills if they are due? I know several pharmacies have auto-fill programs, but should there be a triggering mechanism that gets the refills out the door after a week?

I transfered a refill online at a big box retailer to check out their pharmacy services, and did not get around to picking it up for three weeks (I sent the refill early, and my wife had our second son the day after I sent the request). I went to pick it up, and the meds had been put back. They said it would be an hour wait, so I came back the next day.

I understand why they returned the meds, but there wasn’t any contact to me – no one reached out. They had my email and telephone number, and I was signed up for their reminder program – but I received no notice. This not only lost the pharmacy money, but contributed to my non-adherence.

Would a community pharmacy have made a personalized call to let me know the script was sitting there? Should I have paid more for that service instead of opting for the “deal” at the big box? Should my health plan have been in the mix? These are all questions a patient has to decide for themselves, and the industry needs to think about.

From Pub Med:

Treatment adherence is critical in managing chronic disease, but achieving it remains an elusive goal across many prevalent conditions. As part of its care management strategy, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina (BCBSSC) implemented the Longitudinal Adherence Treatment Evaluation program, a behavioral intervention to improve medication adherence among members with cardiovascular disease and/or diabetes.

The objectives of this study were to 1) assess the effectiveness of telephonic intervention in influencing reinitiation of medication therapy, and 2) evaluate the rate and timing of medication reinitiation. BCBSSC applied algorithms against pharmacy claims data to identify patients prescribed targeted medications who were 60 or more days overdue for refills. This information was provided to care managers to address during their next patient contact.

Care managers received focused training on techniques for medication behavior change, readiness to change, motivational interviewing, and active listening. Training also addressed common barriers to adherence and available resources, including side effect management, mail order benefits, drug assistance programs, medication organizers, and reminder systems.

Overdue refills were tracked for 12 months, with medication reinitiation followed for an additional 3 months. In the intervention group, 94 patients were identified with 123 instances of late medication refills. In the age- and gender-matched comparison group, 61 patients were identified with 76 late refills.

The intervention group had a significantly higher rate of medication reinitiation (59.3%) than the control group (42.1%; P < 0.05). Time to reinitiation was significantly shorter in the intervention group, 59.5 (+/- 69.0) days vs. 107.4 (+/- 109) days for the control group (P < 0.05).

This initiative demonstrated that a targeted disease management intervention promoting patient behavior change increased the number of patients who reinitiated therapy after a period of nonadherence and decreased the time from nonadherence to adherence.

Kevin Aniskovich’s DM Colloquium Presentation

06/05/2008 , 10:30 AM by Alex Sicre

As Director of Corporate Development for Intelecare, I sometimes blog about what we are doing as a company and how we are helping the various stakeholders in healthcare by enabling patient medical adherence. I would be remiss not to mention our CEO’s (Kevin Aniskovich) presentation at the DM Colloquium last month.

The title: Effectively Increasing Patient Adherence as a 360 Degree Approach. He also introduced the term Adherence 2.0 (in line with Health 2.0) and released the preliminary findings of a survey on the utilization of employee wellness programs.

Hope you enjoy!