Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy (VSP) embeds pharmacists within an outpatient MS clinic to provide medication management and address barriers to adherence. We found an average adherence rate of 94% as measured by proportion of days covered (PDC), with 89% of all VSP patients achieving the industry standard of 80% PDC. Additionally, results indicate that ensuring financial assistance and low out-of-pocket costs are associated with high adherence to DMT within an integrated specialty clinic.

This study evaluated medication access rates in patients prescribed a PCSK9 inhibitor at a healthcare system with integrated specialty pharmacy services. Overall, 96% of prescriptions resulted in access to a PCSK9 inhibitor, with a median time to approval of 8 days. This high level of access supports this model as a best practice for prescribing PCSK9 inhibitor therapy.

This study evaluates PCSK9i persistence at 2, 12 and 24 months after initiation of therapy, reasons for non-persistence and percent change in LDL.

This study assessed patient-reported outcomes in patients prescribed specialty medications by an IBD clinic at a health system and dispensed by an integrated specialty pharmacy. A total of 515 MRQs were completed (median of 3 per patient; IQR 2, 3) during the study period. There were 2 reports of adverse effects and 11 reports of missing one or more medication doses. Medication effectiveness was rated as “excellent” in 13% (n=69) and “good” in 84% (n=433) of MRQ responses.

This study evaluated adherence rates and health outcomes across three academic centers with integrated specialty pharmacies. Centers with specialty pharmaies had high medicaiton possession ratio (MPR). Self-injectable biologic therapy non-adherence was associated with higher likelihood of emergency department visits and hospitalizations.

This study evaluated the impact of delayed insurance approval on outcomes in patients prescribed alternate doses of biologic therapy for the treatment of IBD. Researchers found that longer time to insurance approval of a higher biologic dosing regimen was associated with an increase in C-reactive protein, an inflammatory marker, in at least 45 days after the decision to escalate dose, suggesting the longer time to approval, the less likely to see an improvement in C-reactive protein.

The objective of this study was to evaluate if medication non-adherence is associated with increased healthcare resource utilization. In patients with moderate-to-severe IBD on self-injectable biologic medication, non-adherence (MPR 0.86) is associated with increased risk of hospitalization and emergency department visits.

This article discusses development of a quality measures tool to track outcomes for self-injectable biologic therapy used in the management of inflammatory bowel disease. Through a collaborative initiative, a set of clinical and specialty pharmacy quality measures was developed to assess outcomes such as patient safety, disease status, treatment efficacy, and healthcare resource utilization.

The purpose of this study was to assess medication non-adherence [defined as medication possession ratio (MPR)]and validate the findings of risk factors for non-adherence to biologic therapy for adult inflammatory bowel disease: narcotic use, psychiatric diagnosis history, prior biologic use, and smoking. This study found that previously identified cumulative risk factors remain significant.

This study retrospectively reviewed adherence and real-world outcomes of inflammatory bowel disease patients who initiated tofacitinib at a single care center. Sixty-three patients were identified. All patients failed at least on prior biologic therapy. Mean proportion of days covered was 95.7% for ulcerative colitis and 93.1% for Crohn's disease. Significant clinical and endoscopic response was seen. Adherence was high in a cohort with high refractory disease.