Hispanics cut medication adherence gap after Medicare Part D launch

American Heart Association meeting report abstract 119

2014-06-02

(Press-News.org) Hispanics have reduced the gap with whites in taking prescribed heart medicines since the 2006 launch of Medicare's prescription drug benefit called Medicare Part D, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association's Quality of Care and Outcomes Research 2014 Scientific Sessions.

Researchers reviewed prescription drug data from the national Medical Expenditure Panel for African-American and Hispanic Medicare recipients to find trends in medication adherence in the four years after the launch of Medicare Part D (2001-10).

After Part D, adherence rates increased among all racial groups, although to different extents. Overall adherence increased most among whites and Hispanics, but only slightly among African-Americans. This led to a more than 15 percentage point decrease in the white-Hispanic gap but increased the white-African-American gap by more than 5 percentage points.

The study also showed that within Medicare: Hispanics' total group adherence rate improved about 60 percentage points. Whites' adherence rate improved 47 percentage points. African-Americans' adherence rate improved about 9 percentage points.

"Medication adherence is important because patients with chronic conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes who often don't stick with their medicines are at greater risk for problems including heart attack, stroke and heart failure," said Mustafa Hussein, B.S. Pharm., M.S., the study's lead author and an American Heart Association pre-doctoral fellow in health outcomes and policy research at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. "We suspect that medication adherence disparities play a significant role in minority patients' rapid development of high blood pressure and heart disease."

Several factors might explain the differences between Hispanics and African-Americans: they may have been more aware of Part D's launch due to prior use of drug discount card programs. Hispanics are also more likely to use the Part D low-income subsidy and be enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, which often offer their own drug coverage, he said.

"Healthcare providers should collaborate in creative ways to empower minorities to overcome issues that can interfere with their health care and medication adherence, such as stress, depression, financial problems and lack of family or social support," Hussein said. "We really need to think more about social disadvantage as the big picture that contributes to all the disparities to health outcomes, not just adherence."

INFORMATION: Co-authors are Teresa M. Waters, Ph.D.; David K. Solomon, Pharm.D.; and Lawrence M. Brown, Pharm.D., Ph.D. Author disclosures are on the abstract.

The study was funded as part of an American Heart Association Pre-doctoral Fellowship.

Additional Resources: African-Americans and Heart Disease Heart Disease in Hispanic Women Researcher photo and infographic are available on the right column of the release link http://newsroom.heart.org/news/hispanics-cut-medication-adherence-gap-after-medicare-part-d-launch?preview=2898f929773ccd99a348513a53ccf587 Follow AHA/ASA news on Twitter @HeartNews #QCOR14.

NOTE: Presentation is 5 p.m. ET Monday, June 2, 2014.

Statements and conclusions of study authors presented at American Heart Association scientific meetings are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the association's policy or position. The association makes no representation or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability. The association receives funding primarily from individuals; foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific association programs and events. The association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and device corporations are available at http://www.heart.org/corporatefunding.

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Simple change to Medicare Part D would yield $5 billion in savings

2014-06-02

PITTSBURGH, June 2, 2014 – The federal government could save over $5 billion in the first year by changing the way the government assigns Part D plans for Medicare beneficiaries eligible for low-income subsidies, according to new research from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. The results of the study, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), will be published in the June issue of the journal Health Affairs. Medicare Part D provides assistance to beneficiaries below 150 ...

Choosing one drug over another to treat blindness could save Medicare billions

2014-06-02

ANN ARBOR—If all eye doctors prescribed the less expensive of two drugs to treat two common eye diseases of older adults, taxpayer-funded Medicare plans could save $18 billion over a 10-year period, say researchers at the University of Michigan. Further, patients with the wet form of macular degeneration or who have diabetic macular edema could keep $4.6 billion in co-pays in their wallets, and the rest of the U.S. health care system could save $29 billion in private insurance payments and other costs, according to the team led by David Hutton, assistant professor of ...

Study examines political contributions made by physicians

2014-06-02

Bottom Line: The percentage of physicians making campaign contributions in federal elections increased to 9.4 percent in 2012 from 2.6 percent in 1991, and during that time physician contributors shifted away from Republicans toward Democrats, especially in specialties dominated by women or those that are traditionally lower paying such as pediatrics. Author: Adam Bonica, Ph.D., of Stanford University, California, and colleagues. Background: Few analyses have been done regarding the political behavior of American physicians, especially as the numbers of women physicians ...

One in 8 American children estimated to experience maltreatment by age 18

2014-06-02

Bottom Line: One in 8 American children (12.5 percent) is estimated to experience a confirmed case of maltreatment before age 18, and the cumulative prevalence is highest for black children (1 in 5) and Native American children (1 in 7). Author: Christopher Wildeman, Ph.D., of Yale University, New Haven, Conn., and colleagues. Background: Childhood maltreatment (the neglect and physical, sexual and emotional abuse of children) is associated with negative physical, mental and social outcomes. A disparity exists between estimates of the prevalence based on retrospective ...

No sign of 'obesity paradox' in obese patients with stroke

2014-06-02

Bottom Line: Researchers found no evidence of an "obesity paradox" (some studies have suggested overweight or obese patients have lower mortality rates than underweight or normal weight patients) in patients with stroke. Author: Christian Dehlendorff, M.S., Ph.D., of the Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Copenhagen, Denmark, and colleagues. Background: Obesity often is associated with increased health related complications and death. But some studies have suggested an obesity paradox that may cause some to question striving for a normal weight. How the Study ...

Expanded health coverage may improve cancer outcomes in young adults, study suggests

2014-06-02

BOSTON -- Young adults who lack health care insurance are more likely to be diagnosed in advanced stages of cancer and have a higher risk of death, according to a study from Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center (DF/BWCC) and Harvard Medical School. Consequently, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, may improve cancer outcomes in young adults as it expands coverage to many who have been uninsured, said first author Ayal Aizer, MD, MHS, of the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program and senior author Paul Nguyen, MD, of Radiation Oncology at DF/BWCC in a report ...

Nearly 1 in 8 American children are maltreated before age 18

2014-06-02

By the time they reach age 18, about 12% of American children experience a confirmed case of maltreatment in the form of neglect, physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, according to a new study by researchers at Yale University. The numbers are even more sobering for black and Native American children, with one in five black children and one in seven Native American children experiencing maltreatment during the time period studied. The results are published in the June 2 issue of the journal JAMA Pediatrics. The authors estimated the cumulative prevalence of confirmed ...

Study finds risk of recurrence low in smallest HER2+ breast cancer tumors

2014-06-02

OAKLAND, Calif. June 2, 2014 – Patients with specific HER2+ breast cancer tumors had a low risk of the cancer recurring five years after diagnosis, even without chemotherapy or treatment with a common antibody, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Researchers reviewed 16,975 cases of breast cancer diagnosed in Kaiser Permanente patients between 2000 and 2006. They found that for patients with the smallest HER2+ tumors (0.5 centimeters or less) who did not receive treatment with the antibody trastuzumab or chemotherapy, ...

The betrayal of the aphids

2014-06-02

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Aphids are devastating insect pests and cause great losses to agriculture worldwide. These sap-feeding plant pests harbor in their body cavity bacteria, which are essential for the aphids' fecundity and survival. Buchnera, the bacterium, benefits also because it cannot grow outside the aphid. This mutually beneficial relationship is sabotaged, however, by the bacterium which proceeds to betray the aphid, a research team led by scientists at the University of California, Riverside has found. "Although this betrayal is unintentional, it nevertheless ...

First survey of ACOs reveals surprising level of physician leadership

2014-06-02

LEBANON, NH (June 2, 2014) – In spite of early concerns that hospitals' economic strengths would lead them to dominate the formation of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), a new study published in the June issue of Health Affairs reveals the central role of physician leadership in the first wave of ACOs. "The broad reach of physician leadership in ACOs has important implications for the future of health care reform", said Carrie Colla, PhD, lead investigator of the study. "A central role for physicians in the leadership of ACOs is likely to have a powerful influence ...

Hispanics cut medication adherence gap after Medicare Part D launch

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: