If a patient receives a continuous glucose monitor device through their medical benefit, they may be more adherent and may have lower costs, according to a new analysis.
Researchers at CCS, which offers clinical services and home delivery for medical supplies for people with chronic conditions, published the peer-reviewed study this week in the Journal of Medical Internet Research Diabetes (JMIR) and found that patients who secured the monitors through their medical coverage had 23% higher rates of adherence.
The study included data on 2,356 people, with 1,178 in the pharmacy benefit group and 1,178 in the durable medical equipment cohort. In addition to greater adherence, the study found that people who received the devices through their medical benefit had 35% lower average annual total costs of care.
And, for patients who were not adherent to their devices, there was a higher rate of reinitiation (22%) for those in the medical benefit compared to those who received the glucose monitors through their pharmacy benefit (11%).
Arti Masturzo, M.D., chief medical officer for CCS, told Fierce Healthcare that a likely factor is that people who are treated under the medical benefit have more direct outreach.
For instance, if they don't complete a refill or pick up the device, they're likely to be contacted directly about this. Meanwhile, people picking up prescriptions at the pharmacy often get less personal reminders that are easier to ignore or miss, she said.
The glucose monitors may also be difficult or confusing to connect to the body, and time-strapped pharmacists are less likely to be able to provide direct guidance on this, Masturzo said.
"I think pharmacists are trying to do the best they can. We talk a lot about physician burnout, but we don't talk enough about pharmacy burnout, and I'm sure they want to spend the extra time on coaching and education ... but they don't have the bandwidth to do it," she said. "The model isn't set up for that."
Masturzo added that stakeholders like CCS can step up to the plate on challenges like this by first identifying the problem, with research critical to getting arms around these issues.
She said there's additional research incoming that aims to dive into equity challenges and more.
"This research was done out of a genuine desire to create new information that didn't exist," she said.