Objective: To assess the impact of an appointment-based medication synchronization (ABMS) program on medication adherence and persistence with chronic medications. DESIGN Quasiexperimental study in which study patients were matched with control patients.
Setting: Rural pharmacies in the Midwestern United States between June 30, 2011, and October 31, 2012.
Patients: Individuals receiving at least two refills for one of six categories of medications to treat chronic diseases (i.e., angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers, beta blockers, dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers, thiazide diuretics, metformin, statins).
Intervention: Patients in the ABMS program were compared with control patients receiving usual care.
Main outcome measures: 1-year adherence rates using proportion of days covered (PDC) and 1-year nonpersistence rates.
Results: Depending on the drug class, patients enrolled in the medication synchronization program (n = 47-81) had adherences rates of 66.1% to 75.5% during 1 year versus 37.0% to 40.8% among control patients. Program patients had 3.4 to 6.1 times greater odds of adherence compared with control patients. Control patients were 52% to 73% more likely to stop taking their chronic medications over 1 year.
Conclusion: An ABMS program in community pharmacies was associated with improved patient adherence and reduced likelihood of nonpersistence.