LADY LAKE, Fla., February 16, 2012 - Walgreens (NYSE: WAG) (NASDAQ: WAG) and Greystone Healthcare Management have launched a collaborative therapy management pilot program at the Lady Lake Specialty Center in Lady Lake, Fla., aimed at enhancing medication adherence and reducing readmissions rates for patients in post-acute care settings. The program utilizes Walgreens community pharmacists to deliver medication and counseling directly to patients prior to discharge from the 145-bed center. Following discharge, patients will receive a follow-up call from a Walgreens pharmacist within 72 hours to help them understand and comply with their medication therapies.
According to New England Healthcare Institute research, noncompliance with medication therapy results in $290 billion of unnecessary health care costs each year – or roughly 13 percent of total health care expenditures in the United States. Patients who are adherent to medication treatment programs also have lower hospitalization rates, the research shows.
“Discharge from a hospital or post-acute care setting can be a hectic time for patients and their families, and sometimes it’s difficult to make a trip to the pharmacy or to understand a new medication regimen,” said Scott Clark, vice president of strategy & implementation for Greystone Healthcare Management. “Having a clinically-trained pharmacist deliver prescriptions and information directly to a patient’s bedside makes compliance easier, and an ongoing dialogue with the pharmacist helps patients and caretakers transition to a new setting.”
Similar Walgreens programs in hospital settings have driven improvement in patient care and satisfaction as well as significant increases in Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores.
“Walgreens pharmacists are experts at helping patients understand and adhere to their medication therapy programs,” said Marlin Hutchens, Walgreens market vice president for Florida. “By expanding beyond our thousands of community pharmacies and into innovative health care settings like Greystone’s Lady Lake Specialty Center, we’ve demonstrated the valuable role our pharmacists can play as part of a patient’s care team, helping to improve outcomes while reducing costs.”
Upon review of the results of the program at the Lady Lake Specialty Center, Greystone will explore expansion of the Walgreens medication therapy management program to additional settings within its 2,727-bed network of skilled rehabilitation facilities throughout the nation.
About Greystone Healthcare Management:
Greystone Healthcare Management (GHCM) was founded in 2001 and currently manages 27 skilled rehab facilities throughout Florida, Indiana and Ohio. GHCM is a rapidly growing organization which believes in giving the best patient care, by providing progressive, innovative technologies and services designed for optimal patient outcomes.
About Walgreens:
Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) is the nation's largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2011 sales of $72 billion. The company operates 7,830 drugstores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Each day, Walgreens provides nearly 6 million customers the most convenient, multichannel access to consumer goods and services and trusted, cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services and advice in communities across America. Walgreens scope of pharmacy services includes retail, specialty, infusion, medical facility and mail service, along with respiratory services. These services improve health outcomes and lower costs for payers including employers, managed care organizations, health systems, pharmacy benefit managers and the public sector. Take Care Health Systems is a Walgreens subsidiary that is the largest and most comprehensive manager of worksite health and wellness centers and in-store convenient care clinics, with more than 700 locations throughout the country.