FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J., June 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Bridging the communication gap between major medical providers, prescription utilization data and medical claims information can help to improve patient safety and reduce healthcare costs, Timothy Wentworth, Group President for National Accounts, Medco Health Solutions, Inc. , told investors today at Wachovia Securities’ 14th Annual Nantucket Equity Conference.
To illustrate, Wentworth announced that in 2003 RationalMed(R), the company’s integrated patient safety system that reviews medical, pharmacy and diagnostic data, identified 634,749 patients at risk for hospitalization from a prescription medication, according to the results of an annual patient data analysis. During the last 12 months, RationalMed saved health plans approximately $60 million in prescription drug costs in addition to savings from prevented hospitalizations.
According to the annual data analysis, the number of prescriptions that could potentially cause a hospitalization increased in all six major categories of conflicts measured by RationalMed. Specifically:
-- 188,493 prescriptions presented the potential for dangerous interaction with another disease or condition the patient had, a situation that pharmacy utilization reviews can’t identify based solely on prescription data. -- Nearly 120,000 over-utilization episodes that had the potential to cause hospitalizations were identified. -- More than 44,000 conflicts were identified as duplicate therapies (the same or similar medications prescribed concurrently). -- 315,879 prescriptions were identified as having issues with duration of therapy, either stopped too soon or taken too long by the patient.
“For many patients with complex care needs, care is obtained from multiple physicians and specialists who prescribe medication, and from multiple pharmacies that dispense the medication. Unless this care is highly coordinated so that all are informed, the care can put the patient at risk,” said Wentworth. “While physicians may not always have the complete pharmacy and medical information on a patient available when they prescribe a medication, health plans are tapping into safety systems like RationalMed to identify the dangerous potential and alert physicians so they can take action if appropriate.”
Systems such as RationalMed present a unique solution to the problem of costs associated with preventable medication errors. RationalMed enhances patient safety and cuts cost associated with preventable hospitalizations by using predictive modeling to review prescriptions for potential drug errors that could land patients in the hospital. Upon identifying patients at risk, the patient’s prescribing physicians are notified.
The clinical and cost benefits of RationalMed have been widely recognized -- RationalMed membership has increased by over 500 percent between 2000 and 2004. Since its initial launch, more than 1.6 million alert packages identifying patient-specific drug issues have gone out to patients and physicians, and as many as 50 percent of those alerts generated an immediate change in therapy by the physician. More than six million patients nationwide are currently benefiting from their health plan’s use of the RationalMed safety system.
Complete Patient Data Helps Reduce Drug Errors, Save on Healthcare Costs
According to Medco, one in four seniors age 65 or older sees four or more physicians each year, and one in three visit four or more pharmacies each year, making patient data exchange difficult and creating a dangerous medication matrix that could put people at risk. When a patient is identified as being at risk through RationalMed, an alert package, including the patient’s medical and pharmacy data is sent to the physician notifying them of the possible danger.
To help consumers do their part to prevent dangerous errors, Medco offers the following tips:
Make a Medication List: Keep an updated list of all the medications you are taking, including over-the-counter drugs, and bring it to every doctor’s appointment as well as to the pharmacy. In doing so, any doctor you see can identify any potential for drug interactions before prescribing. Medco beneficiaries can download much of this information at http://www.medco.com/.
Tell Every Doctor About All of Your Conditions: Make sure that every doctor you see knows about all short-term and long-term conditions and diseases you have been diagnosed with. While you may think conditions may not be connected, all information is relevant, as certain drugs can be affected by other conditions you have.
Follow doctor’s orders: Make sure to take the medication for the entire length of time for which the doctor prescribes. Don’t stop taking your medication without your doctor’s knowledge, even if you are feeling better, and don’t double up your doses if you aren’t feeling any improvement. Instead, call your doctor.
About Medco
Medco Health Solutions, Inc., a leading pharmacy benefit manager with the nation’s largest mail order pharmacy operations, assists its customers to moderate the cost and enhance the quality of prescription drug benefits provided to members nationwide. Its customers include private- and public- sector employers and healthcare organizations. Medco is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MHS. On the Net: http://www.medco.com/.
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in the statements. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed, and actual results may differ materially from those projected. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward- looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Forward-looking statements in this presentation should be evaluated together with the risks and uncertainties that affect our business, particularly those mentioned in the Risk Factors section of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC File No. 1-31312).
Medco Health Solutions, Inc.
CONTACT: Ann Smith of Medco Health Solutions, Inc., +1-201-269-6402,ann_smith@medco.com; or Kevin Lamb or Amanda Naiman, both of Coyne PublicRelations, +1-973-316-1665, for Medco Health Solutions, Inc.
Web site: http://www.medco.com/
