HCPC Calls for Greater Healthcare Savings Through Improved Adherence to
Prescription Drug Regimens
FALLS CHURCH, Va., June 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With today's
announcement that the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America
(PhRMA) has offered to voluntarily grant some $80 billion in discounts to
Medicare beneficiaries over the next decade in an effort to reduce overall
healthcare costs, the Healthcare Compliance Packaging Council (HCPC) noted
that far greater savings can be achieved if immediate steps are taken to help
people take their prescription drugs properly.
Commonly referred to as pharmaceutical noncompliance, the end result of
Americans not taking their prescription drugs properly is a well-documented
phenomenon that drains more than $180 billion from our national economy every
year due to unnecessary emergency room visits, hospital stays, trips to the
doctor, lost productivity, and early death.
"Published research points to several key reasons why people don't take their
prescription drugs properly," notes HCPC Executive Director Peter G. Mayberry.
"And one reason that is almost always on the top of the list is
'forgetfulness.'" A recent study funded by the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services concludes, however, that better pharmaceutical packaging can
significantly increase pharmaceutical compliance and improve healthcare
outcomes.
The study - which was conducted by Ohio State University (OSU) and appears in
the Jan/Feb 2008 edition of the Journal of the American Pharmacists
Association - compared two groups of patients who were given the exact same
drugs for high blood pressure in two different types of packaging: one group
received their drugs in standard pharmacy vials, while the other group was
given the exact same drug in a unit dose blister card with
compliance-prompting features.
After a year of tracking both groups, OSU researchers found that the group who
received their drugs in blister packs with compliance-prompting features
refilled their prescriptions in a much for timely manner and also achieved
markedly better reductions in their blood pressure readings.
The OSU study is just one example of research which points to the role that
unit dose formats can play in improving pharmaceutical compliance Mayberry
points out. "In the United States today, the only class of drugs currently
dispensed by manufacturers in a unit dose format with compliance-prompting
features is birth control pills, and the most recent data shows that
compliance rates with these drugs exceeds 92 percent. This can be compared
with compliance rates for organ-rejection drugs - which are not typically
dispensed in special packaging - that have a compliance rate of about 82
percent."
If better packaging can improve compliance by a mere 10 percent, Mayberry
notes, annual savings should equal about $18 billion. "Over ten years," he
pointed out, "that is more than double what the PhRMA program seeks to
achieve."
The HCPC is a not-for-profit trade association that was formed in 1990 to
promote the many benefits of unit dose packaging. The United States is one of
only a few countries in the world where pharmaceutical manufacturers are able
to ship prescription drugs in bulk containers such that the drugs must be
repackaged in the pharmacy before they can be given to consumers.
Bulk distribution of drug product adds unnecessary burdens to the pharmacy
industry, allows drugs to be exposed to the atmosphere during repackaging and
household use, promotes dispensing errors, and facilitates the introduction of
counterfeit and/or expired drug products into legitimate dispensing chains.
Greater use of unit dose packaging with compliance-prompting features by
pharmaceutical manufacturers in the U.S. would reduce overall healthcare costs
by improving healthcare outcomes, while also improving the pharmaceutical
supply chain, and providing U.S. consumers with greater piece of mind.
It is for all these reasons that the HCPC has launched an outreach effort to
the Obama administration and the United States Congress urging public policy
that will bring U.S. pharmaceutical packaging standards more closely in line
with the standards pharmaceutical manufacturers must meet when they sell the
exact same drugs in Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
For more information, please contact Ms. Kathleen Hemming in care of
kshemming@aol.com or Mr. Peter G. Mayberry in care of pgmayberry@aol.com. Mr.
Mayberry and Ms. Hemming may both be reached by telephone at 703/538-4030.
SOURCE Healthcare Compliance Packaging Council
Kathleen Hemming, kshemming@aol.com, or Peter G. Mayberry, pgmayberry@aol.com,
both for the Healthcare Compliance Packaging Council, +1-703-538-4030
