BACKGROUND: Prescription medication labels contain valuable health information, and better labels may enhance patient adherence to chronic medications. A new prescription medication labeling system was implemented by Target pharmacies in May 2005 and aimed to improve readability and understanding. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated whether the new Target label influenced patient medication adherence. DESIGN AND PATIENTS: Using claims from two large health plans, we identified patients with one of nine chronic diseases who filled prescriptions at Target pharmacies and a matched sample who filled prescriptions at other community pharmacies. MEASUREMENTS: We stratified our cohort into new and prevalent medication users and evaluated the impact of the Target label on medication adherence. We used linear regression and segmented linear regression to evaluate the new-user and prevalent-user analyses, respectively. RESULTS: Our sample included 23,745 Target users and 162,368 matched non-Target pharmacy users. We found no significant change in adherence between new users of medications at Target or other community pharmacies (p = 0.644) after implementing the new label. In prevalent users, we found a 0.0069 percent reduction in level of adherence (95% CI -0.0138-0.0; p < 0.001) and a 0.0007 percent increase in the slope in Target users (the monthly rate of change of adherence) after implementation of the new label (95% CI 0.0001-0.0013; p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: We found no changes in adherence of chronic medication in new users, and small and likely clinically unimportant changes in prevalent users after implementation of the new label. While adherence may not be improved with better labeling, evaluation of the effect of labeling on safety and adverse effects is needed.
BACKGROUND: Prescription medication labels contain valuable health information, and better labels may enhance patient adherence to chronic medications. A new prescription medication labeling system was implemented by Target pharmacies in May 2005 and aimed to improve readability and understanding. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated whether the new Target label influenced patient medication adherence. DESIGN AND PATIENTS: Using claims from two large health plans, we identified patients with one of nine chronic diseases who filled prescriptions at Target pharmacies and a matched sample who filled prescriptions at other community pharmacies. MEASUREMENTS: We stratified our cohort into new and prevalent medication users and evaluated the impact of the Target label on medication adherence. We used linear regression and segmented linear regression to evaluate the new-user and prevalent-user analyses, respectively. RESULTS: Our sample included 23,745 Target users and 162,368 matched non-Target pharmacy users. We found no significant change in adherence between new users of medications at Target or other community pharmacies (p = 0.644) after implementing the new label. In prevalent users, we found a 0.0069 percent reduction in level of adherence (95% CI -0.0138-0.0; p < 0.001) and a 0.0007 percent increase in the slope in Target users (the monthly rate of change of adherence) after implementation of the new label (95% CI 0.0001-0.0013; p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: We found no changes in adherence of chronic medication in new users, and small and likely clinically unimportant changes in prevalent users after implementation of the new label. While adherence may not be improved with better labeling, evaluation of the effect of labeling on safety and adverse effects is needed.
Authors: Terry C Davis; Michael S Wolf; Pat F Bass; Mark Middlebrooks; Estela Kennen; David W Baker; Charles L Bennett; Ramon Durazo-Arvizu; Anna Bocchini; Stephanie Savory; Ruth M Parker Journal: J Gen Intern Med Date: 2006-08 Impact factor: 5.128
Authors: Terry C Davis; Michael S Wolf; Pat F Bass; Jason A Thompson; Hugh H Tilson; Marolee Neuberger; Ruth M Parker Journal: Ann Intern Med Date: 2006-11-29 Impact factor: 25.391
Authors: William H Shrank; Steven M Asch; John Adams; Claude Setodji; Eve A Kerr; Joan Keesey; Shaista Malik; Elizabeth A McGlynn Journal: Med Care Date: 2006-10 Impact factor: 2.983
Authors: P Michael Ho; John S Rumsfeld; Frederick A Masoudi; David L McClure; Mary E Plomondon; John F Steiner; David J Magid Journal: Arch Intern Med Date: 2006-09-25
Authors: Joshua S Benner; Robert J Glynn; Helen Mogun; Peter J Neumann; Milton C Weinstein; Jerry Avorn Journal: JAMA Date: 2002 Jul 24-31 Impact factor: 56.272
Authors: William H Shrank; Jessica Agnew-Blais; Niteesh K Choudhry; Michael S Wolf; Aaron S Kesselheim; Jerry Avorn; Paul Shekelle Journal: Arch Intern Med Date: 2007-09-10
Authors: William H Shrank; Amanda Patrick; Patrick P Gleason; Claire Canning; Carol Walters; Alan H Heaton; Saira Jan; M Alan Brookhart; Sebastian Schneeweiss; Daniel H Solomon; Michael S Wolf; Jerry Avorn; Niteesh K Choudhry Journal: Med Care Date: 2009-09 Impact factor: 2.983
Authors: Michael S Wolf; Terry C Davis; Laura M Curtis; Stacy Cooper Bailey; JoAnn Pearson Knox; Ashley Bergeron; Mercedes Abbet; William H Shrank; Ruth M Parker; Alastair J J Wood Journal: J Gen Intern Med Date: 2016-08-19 Impact factor: 5.128