DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreen Co. is collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to pilot a model of HIV patient-centered care in a national project to advance clinical integration and medication therapy management.
Walgreens said Monday that, through the effort, its more than 700 HIV-specialized pharmacies and specially trained pharmacists will lead medication care plans and provide data evaluation and outcomes reporting for 1,000 HIV-positive project participants.
The Walgreens pharmacists will meet one-on-one with project participants to create care plans that focus on medication adherence and address other needs, including health education for added chronic conditions.
"Our approach to improving HIV prevention and treatment is individualized care focused on the holistic needs of patients," Glen Pietrandoni, senior manager of virology for Walgreens, said in a statement. "Beyond dispensing medication, our pharmacists are trained to provide testing, confidential wellness consultations, coordinate care and benefits with physicians and insurance providers, and to help patients access financial support programs to reduce medication costs. However, medication adherence remains our primary objective, because we know that taking the right medication at the right time is key to improving health outcomes."
The company added that a Walgreens study of over 15,000 HIV patients showed that those receiving care at one of its HIV-specialized pharmacies were more adherent to their medication (74%) than those receiving care at a traditional, nonspecialized Walgreens pharmacy (69%).
Adherent HIV patients are more likely to achieve improved health outcomes and suppressed viral loads, which make the virus less likely to be transmittable, Walgreens noted. But the CDC estimates that just 25% of the more than 1.1 million Americans with HIV have the virus under control.
