%0 Journal Article
%T Adherence of patients to oral oncolytic and neurologic specialty medications provided by a specialty pharmacy
%A Binita Bhusal
%A Justin Lindhorst
%A Kiona Oleru
%A Marc Stranz
%A Ryan Jaster
%A Veronica Arikian
%J Journal of Drug Assessment
%D 2019
%R https://doi.org/10.1080/21556660.2019.1658288
%X Background: Specialty medications (SP-D) are high cost prescription medications designed for the treatment of complex chronic conditions, i.e. cancer and neurological diseases. Such medications require special handling and shipping, administration, and patient education. To achieve the desired treatment outcomes, including minimizing adverse events, medication adherence is key. There are barriers to poor medication adherence, some of which include high cost, poor understanding of disease and associated therapy, psychological status, forgetfulness, complex dosing regimens, and side-effects. The consequences of non-adherence include increased healthcare resource consumption and poor disease treatment outcomes, e.g. increased relapse, decreased survival time, and/or lack of patient satisfaction. Specialty pharmacy provided medication therapy management (SPMTM) can be important to achieving acceptable medication adherence and, therefore, better treatment outcomes. The specialty pharmacy is a community pharmacy focused on dispensing and providing clinical services pertaining to SP-D. It has pharmacy permits in 50 states as well as in Washington DC, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. It is accredited by URAC and ACHC as a specialty pharmacy. Some of the key services provided by specialty pharmacy are: oncology, neurology, autoimmune disease, analgesia (non-controlled drug), investigational drugs, and other SP-D to treat rare/ultra-rare conditions. Aims: The primary objective of the study was to measure the adherence rate to the oncology and neurology SP-D dispensed by the specialty pharmacy. The secondary objective of this study is to compare the quality-of-life (QoL) of patients who voluntarily participated in the SPMTM program at the program¡¯s start of care (SOC) assessment (before the SP-D had been started) and at the follow-up (F-U) assessment (after SP-D had been started). Methods: A retrospective, observational study of patient reported outcomes (PRO) was conducted at a specialty pharmacy among patients diagnosed with various forms of cancers and neurological issues who had prescriptions filled for SP-D from January 1, 2018 to December 31,2018. Patient education by the pharmacist was offered as part of the SPMTM program throughout patient participation in the program. Each patient was offered medication therapy assessment at SOC and 7 days prior to each refill dispense, using a proprietary clinical assessment instrument designed to capture patient reported data via telephonic interview with patients or their caregivers. Embedded in the assessment
%U https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21556660.2019.1658288