Royal Philips, a global leader in health technology, announced participation in two programmes to help improve medication adherence rates among at-risk, high-cost patient populations. Leveraging the Philips Medication Adherence Solution (PMAS), Lynn Community Health Center (LCHC) of Lynn, Massachusetts. will work with Partners Connected Health of Partners HealthCare to implement a Philips connected in-home medication dispensing solution to help improve treatment plan compliance among patients with mental illness. Triad HealthCare Network (THN) of Greensboro, North Carolina will also incorporate Philips medication dispensing device in a programme designed to improve patient medication adherence among chronic disease patients within the Medicare Advantage population.

As health systems work to better manage high-risk, high-cost patient populations to deliver value-based care successfully, it is critical they have access to the right data with actionable insights. PMAS offers care providers data-driven insights to help optimize medication management and increase patient engagement. By partnering with spencer Health Solutions, Philips offers a connected ecosystem: a monitored in-home dispensing device, pre-packaged, unit-dose medications from mail order and specialty pharmacies, a clinician portal and a caregiver app. The advanced solution provides clinicians, pharmacists and caregivers with daily notifications of non-adherent patients, helping to facilitate delivery of proactive and preventive care, while driving down costs of medical complications related to non-adherence, such as unplanned hospital visits.

“Medication non-adherence costs the US health system over $310 billion every year, and results in hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths annually. Philips data aggregation platforms provide continuous and seamless availability of data and their interpretation to help improve patient outcomes and financial results,” said Derek Ross, Business Leader of Population Health Management, Philips. “Participating in these programmes with Partners Connected Health and Triad HealthCare Network helps our customers improve medication adherence of their highest-acuity patients, and to deliver better value-based care.”

“Patients on complex medication regimens are at a high-risk for being unable to take their medication as prescribed,” said Dr. Kamal Jethwani, senior director at Partners Connected Health. “We have used technology successfully in the past to help such patients manage their medications. This would be our first trial in patients with mental illness, and if successful, would open an exciting opportunity to manage these patients in more effective ways.”

“Barriers to optimal health outcomes for our most vulnerable patients remain extensive and persistent,” said Emily Johnson, LCHC’s Director of Community Outreach. “With this program and our partnership with Partners HealthCare and Philips, our goals are to improve medication adherence rates through connected technology, build a foundation of intensive and ongoing care coordination, and cut costs of unplanned hospital visits.”

“Medication non-adherence is a multibillion dollar problem,” said James Osborne, MD, FACP, Senior Medical Director for Population Health, Cone Health, Triad HealthCare Network. “Through this program, we hope to discover an effective method to give our complex patients with a history of non-adherence the ability to stay on track easily. In turn, we aim to reduce unnecessary emergency transports and hospitalizations, and more effectively manage the cost of care.”

LCHC’s programme, funded by the Mass Health Policy Commission, will specifically target patients enrolled in MassHealth Primary Care Clinician (PCC) plans who are over 20 years old with a primary diagnosis of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depression. Inadequate medication adherence among this population is one of the main causes for LCHC’s inpatient admissions and emergency department visits. Patients with complex mental illness are often on intricate treatment regimens with five or more prescriptions, and the behavioral challenges associated with their illnesses contribute to the likelihood of uncoordinated care and medication non-adherence.

Through a multi-faceted approach of intensive care coordination, clinical pharmacy consultation and Philips connected in-home medication dispenser, LCHC’s study aims to demonstrate a reduction in overall healthcare utilization by 15 per cent, home health utilization by 40 percent, and both acute inpatient and outpatient utilization by 10 per cent by the end of November 2018. By focusing on the highest risk patients, LCHC projects a savings of $1.4 million by the completion of the programme.

Separately, Triad HealthCare Network’s programme aims to enroll patients covered under three leading Medicare Advantage Part D health plans, with the goal of improving medication adherence rates, and consequently, overall patient health. Patients within this particular population tend to be the highest utilizers of their health systems and often live with chronic conditions that require complex prescription regimens.

The success of Triad HealthCare Network’s pilot programme will be determined by performance indicators such as reduced costs of care and increased rates of medication adherence. Insights generated from PMAS, along with refill histories and pharmacy claims data, will assist healthcare providers and insurers to design a streamlined approach in caring for large, at-risk populations enrolled in the Medicare Advantage Part D health plans.

PMAS is part of Philips’ Population Health Management portfolio, which aims to achieve the quadruple aim of healthcare – better clinical outcome, lower cost, improved patient and staff satisfaction – via integrated solutions that include analytics, remote patient management and virtual care programs, and connected devices to help provide high quality care and manage cost and utilization while improving outcomes and revenue.