Case Study: Coaching Patients to Improve Adherence

COACH EVERY PATIENT TO IMPROVE ADHERENCE

Family-owned since 1903, Central Drugs has been serving its community for more than 111 years. The pharmacy is best known for its mission of serving underserved populations, specifically individuals living with HIV and hepatitis C. Central Drugs provides medication synchronization, adherence packaging and health coaching. For individuals living with HIV and hepatitis C, medication adherence is greater than 90%.

Challenge

In addition to focusing on adherence for people living with HIV and hepatitis C, Central Drugs wanted to scale to increase adherence rates for a broader set of patient populations, such as Medicare patients with chronic diseases. Already highly trained in specialized techniques, Central Drugs planned to transfer these skills to new target populations who would be seen in a traditional retail setting.

Solutions

Deploy technology solutions from Prescribe Wellness to facilitate proactive, high-quality interactions with each customer (e.g., expanding "specialty" adherence solutions to the rest of the patient population)
Transfer skills used with specialty high-risk patients, such as behavioral coaching, medication synchronization, and adherence packaging to a broader audience with a focus on Medicare Part D patients with chronic diseases
Use long-term care–type techniques such as med sync and chart reviews in a retail setting

Results: Top Performer for All Adherence Measures

In the top 20% of all retail stores for all adherence measures

Snapshot of Central Drugs' EQuIPP dashboard, showing adherence measures in the top 20%.

HOW TO SUCCEED LIKE CENTRAL PHARMACIES

If you're interested in implementing a behavioral coaching program, below are some suggested steps.

❑ Get educated

Take the CE course available on Health Mart University: Coaching at the Counter… Opportunities for Enhancing Communication with a Patient-Centered Approach

❑ Review the resources

See Appendix B: Motivational Interviewing: Conversation Starters and Common Objections in this Playbook

❑ Involve the whole pharmacy team

Educate team members on the program objectives and ask for their assistance in referring patients to the pharmacist for health coaching

DISCLAIMER: This case study is for informational purposes only. The results of this case study depend on a variety of factors that are unique to this organization. There is no guarantee that your results will be similar to this case study. Each party's results will depend on the factors of its business. The success in this case study cannot be used as an indication of future success with these programs.