Predicting Discontinuation of Pegylated Interferon as a Result of Lack of Efficacy in United States Veterans With Chronic Hepatitis C on Dual Therapy.

Background: Many patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) being treated with pegylated interferon (peg-IFN) plus ribavirin (RBV) do not respond to therapy and do not clear the virus. Standard of care during the era of dual therapy was to discontinue the patient's therapy based on insufficient decreases in viral load after 12 and/or 24 weeks on therapy.

Objectives: We identified patient characteristics that were significant predictors of discontinuation as a result of lack of efficacy (LOE) in a national database of US veterans with genotypes 1 and 4.

Adherence with bisphosphonate therapy in US veterans with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: Pharmacy Benefits Management program data for patients enrolled in the Veterans Affairs Rheumatoid Arthritis (VARA) registry were linked with clinical data to determine bisphosphonate adherence and persistence among US veterans with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to determine factors associated with adherence.

Methods: The primary outcome measures were the duration of bisphosphonate therapy and the medication possession ratio (MPR). Patients with an MPR <0.

Merging Veterans Affairs rheumatoid arthritis registry and pharmacy data to assess methotrexate adherence and disease activity in clinical practice.

Objective: The Veterans Affairs (VA) Rheumatoid Arthritis (VARA) registry and the VA Pharmacy Benefits Management database were linked to determine the association of methotrexate (MTX) adherence with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity.

Methods: For each patient, the medication possession ratio (MPR) was calculated for the first episode of MTX exposure of a duration of ≥12 weeks for both new and established MTX users. High MTX adherence was defined as an MPR ≥0.