Promises to make medication adherence easier

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Health is launching a new pharmacy service called ScriptSync, which promises to make it easier and more convenient for patients to take multiple medications as prescribed.

The service allows patients with multiple medications to pick up their eligible maintenance prescriptions in a monthly visit to their CVS/pharmacy, instead of requiring them to make separate trips. Patients or caregivers can also manage their ScriptSync prescriptions online, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. CVS says that by aligning prescription fill schedules for patients, it will improve medication adherence while simplifying the lives of its patients.

“Medication adherence is a complex public health challenge, and better adherence can improve health outcomes and lower overall health care costs for both patients and payors,” said Dr. Troyen Brennan, executive vice president and chief medical officer at CVS Health. “Our research shows that people with chronic diseases taking multiple medications may make numerous trips to the pharmacy each month for refills, which makes it harder for them to stay on track with different fill schedules and take them regularly as prescribed. ScriptSync is one more way that we can work together with our patients to make medication adherence easier as we help people on their path to better health.”

ScriptSync is currently available in all CVS/pharmacy stores and will be available through CVS/caremark Mail Service Pharmacy in 2016.

Research by the CVS Health Research Institute, previously published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that as the complexity of patients’ medication regimens increases, their adherence decreases. Patients with multiple medications who did not consolidate their medication refills were found to have significantly lower adherence rates than patients who consolidated their refills. Researchers concluded that helping patients simplify, synchronize and organize their pharmacy care could improve their adherence. And patients in the ScriptSync pilot showed a substantial increase in medication adherence when their multiple, ongoing prescriptions were synchronized for pickup together, according to the company.

“As a pharmacy innovation company, CVS Health is focused on using our technology and scale to deliver patient-centered pharmacy care and innovative digital solutions to address medication nonadherence,” said Brian Tilzer, the company’s senior vice president and chief digital officer. “In fact, the online support feature of ScriptSync was developed in our Boston-based Digital Innovation Lab to help make viewing and updating prescription information quick, easy and convenient to give our ScriptSync patients more control over managing their health.”

CVS/pharmacy patients with multiple maintenance prescriptions can sign up for ScriptSync and work with their pharmacist to align prescription fills and choose an optimal pickup date. Once aligned, prescriptions are refilled on the same day, and prior to the pickup date, patients can receive a call or text message when their order is ready. In addition, once enrolled, they can access and manage their prescriptions online.