The Universal Patient Language: A Set of Resources and Tools to Design Patient Communications That Support Better Health Literacy.

Recently, pharmaceutical companies have increased their focus on engaging with patients, following trends toward patient centricity and delivering services around individual drugs. Meanwhile, the U.S.

Clinical and economic outcomes of nonadherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy in patients with human immunodeficiency virus.

Background: Nonadherence with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is common in typical human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patient care settings, but the consequences have not been well described. This study aimed to quantify the clinical and economic effects of nonadherence and estimate the cost-effectiveness of improving adherence in treatment-naive HIV patients.

Methods: A Markov model was developed to project quality-adjusted life expectancy and direct medical costs for patients on an initial once-daily regimen of efavirenz, lamivudine, and stavudine XR.

Coronary heart disease in HIV-infected individuals.

It is currently unknown whether there is an increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in patients with HIV infection. In addition, the contribution of antiretroviral therapy (ART) to CHD risk has not been quantified. We reviewed administrative claims data for HIV-infected and -uninfected individuals from the California Medicaid population and compared the incidence of and relative risk (RR) for CHD using log-linear regression analyses between groups.

Young HIV-infected adults are at greater risk for medication nonadherence.

This study sought to estimate rates of adherence to nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) during the first year of administration in the California Medicaid (Medi-Cal) population. A retrospective analysis of pharmacy claims data regarding NRTI prescription refills was employed to estimate adherence and persistence with therapy throughout 1 year in treatment-naive individuals. Adherence was defined as the proportion of days on which drugs were taken during the first 365 days of therapy, and persistence was assessed according to whether prescriptions were refilled over time within a tolerable threshold (60 days).

Adherence to oral antidiabetic therapy in a managed care organization: a comparison of monotherapy, combination therapy, and fixed-dose combination therapy.

Background: Although medication adherence is one of the most important aspects of the management of diabetes mellitus, low rates of adherence have been documented.

Objective: This study sought to examine medication adherence among patients with diabetes mellitus in a managed care organization who were receiving antidiabetic monotherapy (metformin or glyburide), combination therapy (metformin and glyburide), or fixed-dose combination therapy (glyburide/metformin).

Methods: Medication adherence was evaluated through a retrospective database analysis of pharmacy claims.