Effect of physician participation in a multi-element health information and data exchange program on chronic illness medication adherence

Background: the primary care information project (pcip) includes a network of more than 10,000 physicians across new york city focusing on improving the quality of patient care through the use of health information technology and data exchange. methods: we assessed adherence,defined as the percentage with a medication possession ratio (mpr) ≥80%,across 2 time periods for union members whose primary care providers participated in the pcip compared with those whose providers did not participate. using prescription claims data from 2008 and 2011,the mpr was calculated for disease-specific categories of drugs among patients with diabetes,hypertension,and both conditions. results: greater improvements in the number of adherent members were observed for the pcip patients with diabetes who were taking diabetes-specific medications (odds ratio [or],2.03; 95% confidence interval [ci],1.08-3.83 for pcip,versus or,1.14; 95% ci,0.81-1.60 for non-pcip) and patients with diabetes who are taking lipid-controlling medications (or,1.64; 95% ci,0.73-3.65 for pcip versus or,0.85; 95% ci,0.55-1.32 for non-pcip). however,the magnitude and significance of these associations were diminished when practices providing reduced prescription co-pays were excluded from the analyses. conclusion: access to primary care providers participating in a public health initiative was associated with some improvement in medication adherence. however,reducing prescription co-pays may be a stronger factor for higher medication adherence among union members. © 2015,american board of family medicine. all rights reserved.