Impact of workplace health services on adherence to chronic medications.

Objective: To test the association between integrated workplace health and pharmacy care and medication adherence.

Study Design: Adherence rates for commonly used chronic disease medications were compared in a retrospective, non-case-controlled study of 4476 workplace-treated patients versus 13,134 community-treated patients.

Methods: Pharmacy claims data were used to compute the medication possession ratio for patients who received care in different settings for 20 therapeutic classes. Statistical tests for assessing between-group differences were performed, controlling for differences due to age, sex, number of chronic conditions, number of medication therapeutic classes, and patient out-of-pocket cost per therapy day. Results were reported for overall adherence as well as adherence for patients on new medications.

Results: Significant differences were found between workplace-treated patients and community-treated patients. Workplace-treated patients had overall adherence rates that were 9.72% higher than those of community-treated patients. This pattern was repeated with an overall adherence rate that was 9.52% higher for workplace-treated patients when prescriptions were limited to medication new starts.

Conclusions: Integrated workplace primary care and pharmacy services are one way to increase medication adherence. These services have the potential not only to save healthcare dollars, but also improve the lives of chronically ill patients.