Excelera® Innovates Process for Assessing Medication Adherence Across Nationwide Network of Health System Specialty Pharmacies

MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Excelera^® today announced the company has established a systematic process for measuring medication adherence among patients taking specialty medications in the Excelera Network, a nationwide network of health systems with integrated specialty pharmacies. Initially presented as a poster at the ASHP Summer Meetings and Exhibition, Excelera's process is powered by its complex patient data platform which aggregates as well as benchmarks data from many different Excelera member health systems. Adherence is determined via proportion of days covered (PDC) – the leading method used to calculate medication adherence at the population level. Excelera calculates and assesses this data across the network's 20-plus members for complex and chronic conditions including oncology, multiple sclerosis (MS) and inflammatory diseases, among others. Providing a systematic process for reporting PDC on a scheduled cadence allows specialty pharmacists to regularly measure adherence and make appropriate patient outreach and/or therapy management decisions as needed.

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The Excelera Network's disease state PDC data shows significant improvement for member health systems:

Non-adherence to specialty treatments for illnesses such as cancer and MS can have a significant impact on morbidity, quality of life and overall cost of care. While providers have succeeded in determining adherence at the health system level, the ability to benchmark against other specialty pharmacies within a disease state remained elusive. Thus, the ability to assess medication adherence in a systematic way that utilizes the same methodology is a win for everyone. While established PDC goals for specialty diseases are not clearly defined, Excelera members are committed to achieving PDC above the 80% industry-accepted standard for other therapies treating chronic disease states, as recommended by the Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA).

"Banner Family Pharmacy – Specialty has always taken interest in adherence measures across all specialty disease states served, this allows the opportunity for improving our clinical services and focus on patient therapy outcomes," says Jennifer Craig, PharmD, CSP, senior manager of clinical service at Banner Family Pharmacy – Specialty. "Being part of Excelera has allowed visibility to adherence metrics across all disease states and is extremely valuable to be able to benchmark against other health systems. This opportunity to standardize puts our specialty pharmacies ahead of the game in providing external entities (e.g. accreditation bodies, payers, etc.) measures for population health management and clinical value."

As the industry moves toward value-based care initiatives which aim to control costs for patients, health systems and payers, reporting on medication adherence data will be of critical importance in demonstrating value to internal and external stakeholders. With members from leading health systems, IDNs and academic medical centers across the country, the Excelera Network has the unique ability to assess medication adherence in patients with complex disease states, identify and correct potential reasons for non-adherence through pharmacist interventions, and demonstrate progress toward adherence goals.

"Providing this systematic method of reporting PDC is important for external stakeholders and aligns with the goals of industry organizations such as Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) and National Association of Specialty Pharmacy (NASP)," says Lana Gerzenshtein, PharmD, BCPS, CSP, manager of network clinical programs at Excelera. "These organizations are seeking to define standardized processes for measuring clinical quality in order to benchmark and set best practices and allow for apple to apple comparisons that can be used to satisfy reporting to payers, accrediting bodies and pharma partners. Excelera's process empowers its members with the tools to report to these key external stakeholders."

Excelera's data and reporting platform is designed to collect pharmacy patient data, including longitudinal medical, pharmacy, and cost of care data. Using the platform, member health networks can access their specialty pharmacy program's quality and compare to the Excelera Network's average, as well as available published data. In addition to oncology, inflammatory conditions and MS, therapeutic categories measured in the network also include: cystic fibrosis, growth deficiency, HCV, HIV/AIDS, hyperlipidemia, PAH and transplant.

To learn more about Excelera or becoming a member of the Excelera Network, contact us at https://www.excelerarx.com/contact.

About The Excelera^® Network
The Excelera^® Network is comprised of integrated delivery networks, health systems, and large academic medical centers with a deep commitment to caring for complex patients. Through national-scale collaboration, the network more efficiently gains access to limited distribution drugs, utilizes tools, technology, and best practices to deliver high quality care.

ExceleraRx Corp is a healthcare company that empowers integrated delivery networks, health systems, and large academic medical centers to provide integrated care for complex patients, leading to improved health outcomes and decreased healthcare costs. To learn more, visit https://www.excelerarx.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

SOURCE ExceleraRx Corp.