The APA and Clark-O'Neill Join Forces to Improve Patient Compliance at Independent, Small Chain Pharmacies06/17/97CHARLESTON, SC, June 17, 1997. A new initiative to improve patient compliance on medication dispensed at independent and small chain pharmacies has been developed jointly by The American Pharmacy Alliance (APA) and Clark-O'Neill, Inc., an IMS company. The announcement was made here today at the annual IMS Pharmaceutical Industry Conference. A 1994 report by The Task Force for Compliance indicates that non-compliance, patients never purchasing Rx refills or purchasing them beyond the due date, accounts for more than $100 billion annually in health care and productivity costs. In implementing the new compliance program, APA will contribute the power of its software, the intelligence of its pharmacy databases and face-to-face access to patients at the pharmacy level. A consortium of 16 leading pharmacy software companies, APA headquartered in Lexington, KY, provides software and system support to nearly half of the 24,000 independent and small chain pharmacies in the U.S. Clark-O'Neill's principal role in the partnership will be to provide direct-to-consumer communications. The goal will be to remind patients of due dates for Rx refills and help them realize the benefits of continuing their medication without interruption. A leading interactive healthcare marketing company, Clark-O'Neill is dedicated to improving doctor-patient communications. Compliance communications will be managed through Clark-O'Neill's pharmacy operations to assure full pharmacy control of the compliance process. All correspondence will be tightly coordinated with the patient's local pharmacist. Only those patients who enroll in the compliance program with their pharmacist will receive communications. All communications will include the name of the local pharmacy, an 800 number that patients can call for information or have the opportunity to request that they be dropped from the program. Program Promises Increased Efficiency Karl Steele, President of the APA, believes the program will enable manufacturers, pharmacy benefit managers and managed care organizations to work with independent and small chain pharmacies with the same efficiencies as they do with large chains, mail order and HMO pharmacies. Frank DiSanzo, VP Information Services of Clark-O'Neill noted that the APA-Clark-O'Neill initiative is an extension of a new database service developed by Clark-O'Neill's parent company, IMS. IMS's Xpand Rx database measures non-compliance on a wide range of prescription therapies, and can be used to indicate the effectiveness of the APA-Clark-O'Neill product. IMS is an operating unit of Cognizant Corporation (NYSE: CZT). Based in Westport, CT, Cognizant employs over 10,000 professionals in more than 100 countries. Cognizant companies integrate information and technology to create business insight. In addition to IMS, Cognizant's principal operating units are: Nielsen Media Research, the leader in audience measurement for the electronic media, and a majority interest in Gartner Group, the premier provider of research and advisory service to the information technology industry. APA founding member companies include: BSI Business Systems, CRX Inc., Condor Corporation, Cost Effective Computer Company, Digital Simplistics, Etreby Computer Company, Health Business Systems, Interactive Systems & Management, MedE America Systems, North American PACS, PharmAssist, OmniSys, Opus Core, QS/1 Data Systems, and Transaction Data Systems, VIP Computer Systems.
CONTACTS: Terry Scott Bill Noonan | Back to News Page | Home |
Copyright © 2001, The American Pharmacy Alliance. "The American Pharmacy Alliance" and "PromptRx" are servicemarks of The American Pharmacy Alliance. Updated: January 2001 |