Improving Medication Adherence Benchmarks Through Community Pharmacist Interventions

Summary: Training community pharmacists in the art of motivational interviewing can boost medication adherence levels in the patients who visit them, according to Janice Pringle, Ph.D, director of the program evaluation research unit at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. In a unique intervention, the university is collaborating with Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield and Rite-Aid pharmacies to deploy the training to 120 participating pharmacies to reduce medication non-adherence, a problem associated with an estimated $290 billion in avoidable medical spending every year, according to a recent New England Healthcare Institute estimate. Dr Pringle describes the three primary reasons for medication non-adherence driving the intervention, the benefits of training the pharmacists in motivational interviewing and the pharmacy's role in the project. Dr. Pringle will share how patients are identified for the intervention and the tools and strategies that pharmacists are using to improve adherence benchmark levels during, "Improving Medication Adherence Benchmarks Through Community Pharmacist Interventions," a May 25, 2011 webinar from the Healthcare Intelligence Network.