NCPA Announces Med Sync Survey Results, Marketing Toolkit

PRESS RELEASE

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Oct. 6, 2014) —The

National Community Pharmacists Association

(NCPA) today announced a

new national survey finding high satisfaction among patients who are enrolled in medication refill synchronization (or “med sync”) programs and

the availability to NCPA members of a marketing toolkit intended to help pharmacies grow patient enrollment in med sync services, such as NCPA’s

Simplify My Meds

® (SMM)

.

“NCPA has made med sync programs such as Simplify My Meds a priority because they are truly a win-win-win situation for patients, payers and pharmacists alike,” said NCPA CEO B. Douglas Hoey, RPh, MBA. “These survey results and marketing tools will help put community pharmacists in a better position to sign up more patients for med sync programs for better health and less stress.”

“What’s more, three out of the five quality measures used by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as part of a health plan’s star ratings are about adherence,” Hoey added. “To put it simply, community pharmacies that do a good job helping patients take their medications will be more likely to be included by health plans in their pharmacy networks.”

National patient survey results

At NCPA’s request, Langer Research Associates conducted a national, random-sample telephone survey of ongoing medication users age 40 and older.

The poll found

both widespread patient satisfaction and suggestions for how community pharmacists can most effectively market the services to those who are not yet enrolled.

Highlights from the survey include:

• Eighty-three percent of patients participating in med sync programs find them “extremely or very” helpful in managing their medication refills, and 74 percent say it’s that helpful in improving their overall adherence to their prescribed medication regimen.
• Med sync participants may be more pharmacy-loyal as they are 10 percent more apt to be “highly satisfied” with their pharmacy.
• Fifty percent of survey respondents who are not enrolled reported being “very” or “somewhat” interested in med sync. Their interest increased as they learned more about the program’s individual components. For example, 68 percent of non-participating patients were “very” or “somewhat” interested in day-ahead reminders from the pharmacy that their prescriptions are ready for pickup.

An easy-to-read infographic is available at

www.ncpanet.org/medsync

, including a

printer-friendly format

.

Med Sync Marketing Toolkit for Pharmacies

In addition, NCPA has developed a

promotional toolkit

that gives independent community pharmacists everything they need to raise awareness of — and demand for – med sync services among their patients. The toolkit is available to NCPA members at

www.ncpanet.org/smm

and includes the following resources:

• Sample news release for local news media
• Customizable letter to the editor
• Sample social media posts
• Telephone scripts to be used by pharmacy staff
• PowerPoint presentation for use in community outreach

Besides benefitting patients and pharmacies med sync can help reduce overall health care costs by making a dent in the

costs of non-adherence, which are estimated to be as high as $290 billion, according to NEHI. A first-of-its-kind patient survey,

Medication Adherence in America: A National Report Card

, found that Americans 40 and older with a chronic medical condition earn a troubling C+ on average and that one in seven members of this group received an F when it comes to taking their medications correctly.

Medication synchronization is the process of lining all of a patient’s medications to be refilled on the same day. Patients will make a single trip to the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions each month, making it convenient to stay on track with their long term medications. Coordinating prescriptions for the whole family to come due on the same day of the month, easing stress on caregivers or busy parents, is also an option.

In a recent study by the National Community Pharmacists Association, patients enrolled in medication synchronization at their local pharmacy averaged over 100 additional days of on their medication(s) per year compared to their non-enrolled peers.

###

The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA®) represents the interests of America's community pharmacists, including the owners of more than 23,000 independent community pharmacies. Together they represent an $88.7 billion health care marketplace, dispense nearly 40% of all retail prescriptions, and employ more than 300,000 individuals, including over 62,000 pharmacists. To learn more, go to

www.ncpanet.org

, visit

facebook.com/commpharmacy

, or follow NCPA on Twitter

@Commpharmacy

.