Walgreens Boots Alliance’s Integrated Approach to Medication Adherence
The failure to take medications as prescribed is associated with adverse health outcomes and rising healthcare costs. Walgreens Boots Alliance strives to improve medication adherence by addressing systemic barriers to care. Barriers can include everything from a misunderstanding of prescription interactions with other drugs to a lack of access to transportation. Lack of insurance, financial insecurity, inconvenience and forgetfulness are also commonly identified as factors in adherence failure. You can learn more about how WBA is overcoming barriers to medication adherence in our 2023 Environmental, Social and Governance Report.
Our pharmacists and healthcare providers take the extra step to help ensure adherence among their patients. Analytics help us predict the patients most likely to become non-adherent and identify custom ways to reach them and help them maintain their regimen. Adherence programs for the most complex treatments and disease-state management programs include phone, virtual and in-person consultations to address potential side effects and offer remedies, digital solutions including medication synchronization, delivery, consultations and patient education and efforts to connect patients to financial assistance to help them stay on track.
Our pharmacists are continuously learning and updating their training on common chronic conditions including hyperlipidemia and diabetes management. Recognizing that diabetes, high cholesterol and hypertension are prevalent among Americans, we tailored specific programs to help improve outcomes for patients living with these disease states. Across these conditions, Walgreens PDC (Proportion of Days Covered) rates improved by 0.3% in fiscal 2023 compared to fiscal 2022. PDC is a common measurement for adherence referring to the percentage of time a patient has medication available based on refill records.
Medication non-adherence remains a significant barrier to positive health outcomes for those with mental health conditions. To help support greater adherence, outcomes, and lower overall costs for patients and payers, Walgreens has added oncolytics, estrogen hormones, antiandrogens and continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices to its New to Therapy pharmacy program in addition to anti-anxiety medication, anti-psychotics and anti-depressants.
Walgreens works to improve medication adherence, manage chronic disease and overcome barriers to care through numerous programs, which you can learn more about in our 2023 Environmental, Social and Governance Report.
