Drug mailing service tries to improve patient compliance to medications

Pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) Express Scripts now offers a new service designed to help employees enrolled in company health plans to stick to medication regimes that treat chronic conditions. The new program, Select Home Delivery, is modeled after 401(k) retirement savings plans in which employees are automatically enrolled.

For its part, Select Home Delivery automatically mails patients 90-day supplies of their medications. "Moving from retail to home delivery may be the most powerful intervention we have today to improve therapy adherence," said Bob Nease, chief scientist at Express Scripts. Patients may opt out of the program if they choose to fill their prescriptions elsewhere.

However, Express Scripts says that the new service reduces the cost of medications by as much as one-third. About 25 large employers, including Lowe's, now offer the service to their employees, according to U.S. News and World Report.

For more:
- see the U.S. News and World Report story