Med sync program improves Rx adherence for participants

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — It’s now over a year that CVS Health launched its ScriptSync medication synchronization program, and for many participants the service has made a difference.

CVS said Thursday that in the past year, more than 1 million patients have been enrolled in ScriptSync at CVS Pharmacy. Preliminary results, which tracked enrolled patients’ average days with medication per month using pharmacy claims data, indicated that the service improves medication adherence by an average of 5% to 10%.

Geared for patients with multiple prescriptions, ScriptSync readies patients’ eligible medications so they’re ready for pickup on the same day each month.

“We are focused on helping patients save time while making it easier for them to take all of their medications as prescribed,” Troyen Brennan, executive vice president and chief medical officer at CVS Health, said in a statement. “With ScriptSync, we can remove some of the biggest barriers to medication adherence, such as remembering to refill prescriptions and making multiple pharmacy trips each month.

“By aligning a patient’s prescription pickup schedule, we can improve convenience and drive adherence, and based on the high enrollment in ScriptSync, it is clear that our patients value this service,” Brennan noted.

In addition, CVS has made ScriptSync available at CVS Caremark Mail Service Pharmacy. The company said the move makes CVS Health the first national pharmacy provider to offer such a service in both retail and mail pharmacy channels. With the service, CVS Caremark plan members can align their refills and have all maintenance medications delivered together by mail.

ScriptSync has already been available to CVS Caremark members who fill prescriptions at a CVS Pharmacy store. CVS said that almost 30% of those enrolled in ScriptSync at retail are CVS Caremark members.

“Our goal is to deliver solutions that help improve health and lower costs for our customers, clients and members,” stated Jonathan Roberts, executive vice president at CVS Health and president of CVS Caremark, the company’s pharmacy benefit management unit. “Improving medication adherence is a major priority for our PBM clients, and a seemingly small enhancement like aligning prescriptions for delivery or once monthly pick up can make a tremendous difference for patients in convenience and outcomes.”

CVS Pharmacy patients with multiple maintenance medications can sign up for ScriptSync and work with their pharmacy team to identify which prescriptions to include and choose a pickup date. Patients can opt to receive a call or text message when their script is ready. Patients or their caregivers can manage ScriptSync prescriptions 24/7 online at CVS.com/ScriptSync.

CVS said that patients also will soon be able to manage ScriptSync prescriptions via the CVS Pharmacy mobile app. They will be able to add or remove prescriptions, check the status of an order and modify their ScriptSync pickup date.

Patients report satisfaction with med sync service, CVS added. Previously published findings from the CVS Health Research Institute revealed that patients with multiple medications who align their medication refills were more likely to be adherent than patients who made numerous trips to the pharmacy.