USE CASE

Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)

Challenge

To reduce hospital readmissions among patients with congestive heart failure (CHF), a 200-bed community hospital first needed to understand the impact of price transparency on medication adherence.

Demographics

417 patients:

All admitted to hospital at time of CHF diagnosis
Some with inpatient readmission
Others with no readmission

Population Metrics

Baseline levels of medication adherence to specific medications for readmitted versus non-readmitted patients.

Findings

Medication cost has an impact on first-fill prescription abandonment for patients with CHF, as evidenced by:

Differing adherence rates between readmitted (50%) and non-readmitted (35%) patients prescribed more expensive antithrombotics
Similar adherence rates between readmitted (31%) and non-readmitted (32%) patients prescribed less expensive anticoagulants

Readmitted patients are less adherent to two classes of drugs deemed critical to CHF patients:

Antithrombotic agents: 10% less adherent
Anticoagulants: 17% less adherent

Implementation

Implemented in-workflow price transparency
Provided prescription pricing information and therapeutic alternatives at the point of care
Gathered medication history data to track patient adherence

Results

Validated price transparency as a point-of-care strategy for better adherence and fewer hospital readmissions
Empowered providers with up-to-the-minute, patient-specific information on drug cost and affordable alternatives
Tracked fill rates among vulnerable patient populations to pinpoint gaps and address adherence challenges