DBN Article on Adherence

In today’s Drug Benefit News, I was quoted several times on the issue of incentives and adherence.  Here’s one of the quotes along with one of the quotes from Bob Nease from Express Scripts. 

Article: Should Patients Be Paid for Adherence? Strategy Could Yield Savings or Cost Hikes

Author: Renee Frojo

Medication nonadherence is recognized by most payers as a major driver of pharmacy costs, but nobody can get their hands on a foolproof solution to the problem. As a result, PBMs and health plans are experimenting with a new method that some critics view as a last resort: paying people to take their drugs appropriately. “There is no silver bullet when it comes to adherence, because it’s not that straightforward,” George Van Antwerp, vice president of the Solutions Strategy Group at Silverlink Communications, tells DBN. “However, it is an issue where everyone is aligned because there are a lot of potential savings.”

 “Some plans will do whatever it takes to get patients to be adherent to their therapy or engaged in better behaviors,” Bob Nease, Ph.D., chief scientist and vice president of marketing at Express Scripts, Inc., tells DBN. While the PBM hasn’t launched its own program yet, Nease says it will be following the trend closely. “The use of lotteries is very interesting and it has potential,” he adds.