WASHINGTON — The American Pharmacists Association Foundation has launched Align My Refills, a campaign that provides resources and points patients and caregivers to their local pharmacist for help in maintaining medication regimens.
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The APhA Foundation said Tuesday that the campaign, kicked off during American Pharmacists Month in October, urges pharmacy patients to enroll in medication synchronization programs, in which pharmacists consolidate the dispensing of multiple prescription refills and set a single pickup date.
At AlignMyRefills.com, patients can find a locator tool for pharmacies offering a medication synchronization program in their community, as well as information about medication adherence, med synch programs, and the benefits for patients and caregivers.
The APhA Foundation reported that while medication nonadherence accounts for more than 125,000 deaths and 10% to 25% of hospital/nursing home admissions each year in the United States, a recent patient survey revealed that a lack of planning to fill prescriptions may be a factor. A third of patients polled who take medications regularly said they miss doses of their medicine because they didn’t refill their prescription before it ran out. Twenty-eight percent said they have failed to refill a prescription in time.
In addition, about three-quarters of adults age 40 and older with a chronic condition admit to having skipped or missed a dose of medication in the past 12 months, according to the foundation.
"In the United States, medications comprise approximately 10% of health care expenditures, and a staggering $290 billion of this is attributed to medication misuse and regimen nonadherence," Mindy Smith, executive director of the APhA Foundation, said in a statement. "Med sync helps patients stay on their medication regimen and build a relationship with their pharmacist as part of their health care team."
The foundation noted that Align My Refills and med sync programs are particularly geared for patients taking multiple, ongoing monthly medications, the elderly, and patients new to chronic drug therapy.
Medication synchronization eliminates multiple calls to the pharmacy for prescription refills, allows for fewer trips to the pharmacy, and gives patients a greater opportunity to meet with the pharmacist on a monthly basis to discuss their medications. Patient caregivers and family members also can benefit from med sync services, the APhA Foundation said, since they are often the people who pick up prescriptions and are responsible for administering them.
