Whether a patient needs maintenance medications or complex specialty medications, Walgreens provides the care and support they need.

We focus special attention on patients most in need of help with medication adherence, including those with the triple-weighted Star Ratings disease states of diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia. We’re constantly innovating to provide new solutions that support improved outcomes, reduce healthcare costs and enhance the customer experience.

Common Challenges

50% of patients are nonadherent to their prescribed medication.(1) | The cost of non adherence ahs been estimated at $100 to $300 billion annually.(2)

How We Can Help

1. Our customer-centric solutions provide a better customer experience and drive healthy behavior. 2. Our omnichannel approach includes in-store, telephonic and digital solutions. 3. Our solutions improve customer health outcomes and your bottom line. Pill Reminder. Schedule pill reminder alerts on the Walgreens App to never miss a dose. Save a Trip Refills(R). Align refill dates to reduce pharmacy trips. Visit Walgreens.com/satr to learn more.

Our adherence solutions at work

Our new-to-therapy customers had 3% greater medication adherence rates and 3% lower healthcare costs³
In a study among Medicare Part D customers, our Delayed Therapy call program demonstrated a 22.8% increase in refill rates, a 1.5% increase in PDC and improved persistence by 2.2 days⁴
Our Pill Reminder tool on the Walgreens App reminds customers when it's time to take a medication. A recent study showed that our Pill Reminder tool raises the likelihood of being optimally adherent by 5.5% for patients taking hypertension, 5% for hyperlipidemia and 10.3% for oral diabetes medications^†5
Save a Trip Refills^® can save an average of three trips to the pharmacy per year and increase optimal adherence for Triple Weighted Star measures^6,7

Adherence research

Improving Medication Adherence and Health Care Outcomes in a Commercial Population Through a Community Pharmacy

A community pharmacy's multifaceted set of adherence interventions was associated with patients having significantly higher medication adherence and lower health care utilization and costs within a commercial population.

Impact of Late-to-Refill Reminder Calls on Medication Adherence in the Medicare Part D Population: Evaluation of a Randomized Controlled Study

Results from this study suggest that late-to-refill reminder calls increased adherence for Medicare Part D patients who are late in refilling their medications and therefore have the potential to reduce their risk for hospitalization and health care costs.

Modeling the Economic Value of Medication Synchronization among Medicare Beneficiaries

Medication synchronization has been shown to reduce healthcare costs for Medicare beneficiaries.

Modeling the Economic Value of Medication Synchronization among Commercial and Medicaid Populations

Medication synchronization has been shown to improve medication adherence and reduce healthcare costs for commercial and Medicaid beneficiaries.

90-Day Index Fills at Retail Pharmacy Contribute to Higher CMS Star Quality Measures

When Medicare Part D patients start the calendar year with a 90-day prescription for Star drug classes at retail pharmacy, they have significantly greater adherence than non-90-day prescriptions.

References

1. Nieuwlaat R, Wilczynski N, Navarro T, et al. Interventions for enhancing medication adherence. Cochrane database of systematic reviews. 2014(11).

2. Viswanathan M, Golin CE, Jones CD, et al. Interventions to improve adherence to self-administered medications for chronic diseases in the United States: a systematic review. Annals of internal medicine. 2012;157(11):785-795.

PhRMA. Improving prescription medicine adherence is key to better health care. https://phrma-docs.phrma.org/sites/default/files/pdf/PhRMA_Improving%20Medication%20Adherence_Issue%20Brief.pdf.

3. Akinbosoye OE, Taitel MS, Grana J, Hill J, Wade RL. Improving medication adherence and health care outcomes in a commercial population through a community pharmacy. Popul Health Manag. 2016;19(6):454:461.

4. Taitel MS et al. Impact of late-to-refill reminder calls on medication adherence in the Medicare Part D population: evaluation of a randomized controlled study. Patient Preference and Adherence. 2017;11:373379.

5. Singh T, Smith-Ray R, Weiss B, Taitel M. Utilization of a mobile pill reminder application is associated with higher medication adherence. Presented at: AcademyHealth 2019 Annual Research Meeting; June 2–4, 2019; Washington, DC

6. Walgreens Internal Data. May 2018.

7. Mu Y, et al. Medication synchronization improves medication adherence. Presented at International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, May 2018. Baltimore, MD.

† Compared with nonusers, after controlling for differences across groups (P<.001).