Association Between Persistence with Oral Atypical Antipsychotic Medications and Hospital and Emergency Department Utilization in Medicaid Patients with Schizophrenia.

Purpose: To examine 1-year persistence with oral atypical antipsychotics (OAAPs) for Medicaid patients with schizophrenia and assess the association between OAAP persistence and hospital and emergency department (ED) resource utilization. Patients and Methods: Using 2016-2020 multi-state Medicaid claims data, this retrospective study followed patients diagnosed with schizophrenia for 12 months after initiating OAAP therapy. Patients started on an OAAP with no evidence of antipsychotic use in the previous 6 months were included if they had a diagnosis of schizophrenia, were not dually enrolled in Medicaid and Medicare, did not switch to a long-acting injectable antipsychotic, and were continuously eligible 6 months before and 12 months after the initial OAAP prescription (index date). OAAP persistence was measured allowing for a <60-day gap. All-cause and schizophrenia-related inpatient and emergency department (ED) resource utilization during the follow-up period were compared between OAAP persistent and non-persistent groups. Results: The study sample of 13,007 had an average age of 39.1 years and 57.0% were male. Patients were persistent with their index OAAP for 135 days on average and 73.1% had a ≥60-day gap in antipsychotic therapy post-index. While 32.8% and 28.6% of patients who did not persist with their index OAAP restarted the index OAAP or switched to a different OAAP medication later in the year, respectively, a larger proportion (38.6%) had no further OAAP prescriptions. After adjustment for demographic and clinical variables, compared to non-persistent patients, persisting with OAAPs was significantly associated with fewer all-cause and schizophrenia-related hospitalizations (Incidence Rate Ratio [IRR]=0.742, p<0.001; IRR=0.823, p<0.001; respectively) and ED visits (IRR=0.759, p<0.001; IRR=0.773, p<0.001; respectively). Conclusion: Non-persistence with OAAP medication is common among patients with schizophrenia and associated with negative outcomes including increased utilization of hospital and ED resources. Patient-centered interventions that improve antipsychotic persistence should be implemented to facilitate optimal outcomes in this population.

One-Year Medication Treatment Patterns, Healthcare Resource Utilization, and Expenditures for Medicaid Patients with Schizophrenia Starting Oral Atypical Antipsychotic Medication.

Oral atypical antipsychotic (OAAP) medications are the most commonly prescribed treatment for the management of schizophrenia symptoms. This retrospective study, using Medicaid claims data (2016-2020), followed patients for 12 months after initiating OAAP therapy. Study outcomes included OAAP adherence, switching, augmentation, healthcare resource utilization (HRU), and expenditures. All-cause and schizophrenia-related HRU and expenditures were compared between adherent and nonadherent cohorts. Among 13,007 included patients (39.1 ± 12.8 years of age, 57.0% male, 36.1% Black, 31.8% White, 9.7% Hispanic), 25.7% were adherent to OAAPs (proportion of days covered [PDC] ≥ 0.8). During the 1-year follow-up period, Black individuals were in possession of an OAAP for an average of 166 days compared to 198 and 202 days for White and Hispanic patients, respectively. Approximately 16% of patients switched OAAP medications and 3.2% augmented therapy with an OAAP added to their index medication. Nearly 40% of patients were hospitalized during follow-up and 68.4% had emergency department (ED) visits. A greater proportion of nonadherent patients had all-cause inpatient (41.7% vs. 34.1%, p < 0.001) and ED visits (71.7% vs. 58.8%, p < 0.001) compared to adherent patients. Annual total healthcare expenditures were $21,020 per patient; $3481 higher for adherent versus nonadherent patients. Inpatient expenditures comprised 44.6% and 30.6% of total expenditures for nonadherent and adherent patients, respectively. Hospitalized patients' total expenditures were $23,261 higher compared to those without a hospitalization. Adherence to OAAP medication is suboptimal and associated with increased utilization of costly hospital and ED resources. Efforts to improve therapies and increase medication adherence could improve clinical and economic outcomes among individuals with schizophrenia.

Z-code documentation to identify social determinants of health among Medicaid beneficiaries.

INTRODUCTION: Social determinants of health (SDoH) are non-medical factors that impact individuals' health. SDoH can be documented in claims data using International Classification of Disease (ICD) 10th revision codes Z55 - Z65. The study objective was to describe the documentation of SDoH Z-codes among Medicaid beneficiaries in Texas. METHODS: Texas Medicaid medical and enrollment claims data were utilized. Beneficiaries with at least one claim associated with SDoH Z-codes between 2016 and 2019 were identified excluding those 65+ years of age and others dually eligible for Medicare. RESULTS: SDoH Z-code documentation was associated with approximately 1.2 million claims for 181,136 unique beneficiaries. Females (54.3%) and Hispanics (47.9%) comprised a majority of beneficiaries with Z-code documentation, and the average age was 14.2 ± 13.4 years. Nearly 40% had Z-code documentation of "problems related to upbringing" (Z62) (N = 68,478, 37.8%), followed by "problems related to primary support group including family circumstances" (Z63) (N = 42,378, 23.4%), and "problems related to education and literacy" (Z55) (N = 28,848, 15.9%). SDoH Z-code documentation increased slightly over the years from 1% of Medicaid beneficiaries in 2016 to 1.3% in 2019. CONCLUSION: A steady increase in SDoH Z-code documentation was observed among Medicaid beneficiaries but represented a relatively small proportion of the beneficiaries overall.

Exploring access to care from the perspective of patients with breast cancer: A qualitative study.

OBJECTIVES: Patients face a myriad of personal and system-based challenges in accessing breast cancer care, but less is known about access as expressed and experienced by patients themselves. The objective of this qualitative study was to further explore the breadth of issues related to access from the perspective of patients with breast cancer across their care journey. METHODS: Twelve women participated in 1-h semi-structured interviews and 48 women participated in 2-h focus groups at six oncology practices in 2018. Grounded theory was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Six primary themes emerged concerning access to care: information, psychosocial support, health insurance, financial resources, timeliness, and emotions. CONCLUSIONS: This study identified six core dimensions of access to care. Access encompassed not only gaining entrée to care services-in the traditional sense of access-but also the continuing support needed to effectively use those services throughout the cancer care journey. Future strategies aimed at improving access to breast cancer care should attend to these ongoing patient-centric and system-based issues which are mostly amenable to change.

Improving Asthma Management: Patient-Pharmacist Partnership Program in Enhancing Therapy Adherence.

Community pharmacist interventions can assist in improving adherence in patients with asthma. The objective of the study was to assess the feasibility of patient-centered counseling using the developed asthma-specific tools to identify barriers to adherence and identify their preliminary effect on adherence barrier score and asthma control. Adult patients with persistent asthma were invited to participate in a 3-month pre-post intervention study involving community pharmacist-provided patient-centered counseling. Bivariate analyses were conducted to determine whether there were changes in outcomes from the pre to post period. Of 36 recruited patients, 17 completed both pre and post surveys. At baseline, patients had a mean ACT score of 15.1 ± 3.5, with 94% having uncontrolled asthma, and an average of 4.2 ± 2.5 reported barriers. The following barriers were most common: not having an Asthma Action Plan (52.9%), use of inhaler more or less often than prescribed (47.1%) and forgetfulness (41.2%). The ACT score increased by 2.7 ± 5.4, which was not statistically significant; however, it might be clinically significant. Two barrier scores improved as a result of the intervention. Preliminary evidence on the feasibility of identifying and addressing patient-specific barriers to adherence delivered by pharmacists showed that it has the potential to resolve barriers and improve asthma outcomes.

An assessment of Parkinson's disease medication treatment patterns in the Medicaid population.

INTRODUCTION: Most Parkinson's disease (PD) medication adherence studies have focused on patients with commercial or Medicare health insurance coverage. However, less is known regarding medication treatment patterns within the Medicaid population. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study utilized 2011-2019 administrative healthcare claims from 7 state Medicaid programs. We compared newly diagnosed patients with PD started on either levodopa or a dopamine agonist (DA). Baseline comorbidities were compared. Outcomes were assessed during a 12-month post-index observation period, and included total medication days, proportion of days covered (PDC), adherence status, persistence to initiating PD medication, and time to non-persistence of initiating PD medication. RESULTS: Our study sample of 805 Medicaid patients had an average age of 54.1 years, with 52.0% being female. Levodopa was the predominant PD medication at initiation (75.4%). Roughly half of patients had a baseline depressive disorder and nearly 40% had an anxiety disorder. Levodopa patients had a significantly higher PDC compared to DA patients (0.621 vs. 0.546, p = 0.007). An adjusted logistic regression model showed no significant difference in the number of adherent patients between the two groups (p = 0.058). An adjusted Cox proportional hazards model controlling for demographic and baseline variables showed a 26% lower risk of non-persistence for levodopa patients versus DA patients (HR 0.740, CI 0.597-0.917, p = 0.006). CONCLUSIONS: Adherence and persistence rates were suboptimal following initiation of either levodopa or DA medication for patients with PD in Medicaid programs, though rates were better for those initiated on levodopa.

Prevalence of primary immune thrombocytopenia and related healthcare resource utilization among Texas Medicaid beneficiaries.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) and describe ITP-associated healthcare resource utilization (HRU) among Texas Medicaid beneficiaries. METHODS: A retrospective analysis using 2012-2015 Texas Medicaid claims data was conducted to estimate the annual prevalence of ITP. HRU was summarized for the 12-month period following initial ITP diagnosis. Logistic regression and generalized linear model were used to investigate predictors for all-cause and ITP-related HRU. RESULTS: The average annual prevalence of ITP was 17.0 per 100,000 persons; higher among females vs males (17.4 vs 13.6 per 100,000) and highest among adults aged ≥ 65 years (36.7 per 100,000). Among 325 patients included in the HRU analyses, 49.2% received ITP therapies. More than half of patients had at least one all-cause emergency department (ED) visit (70.5%) and/or hospitalization (56.0%). One-third (32.6%) experienced at least one ITP-related ED visit and 40.3% had at least one ITP-related hospitalization. Compared to adults aged 18-49 with ITP, children aged 0-4 (odds ratio [OR] = 3.65, p = .0008) and aged 5-17 (OR = 2.68, p = .0074) were more likely to have an ITP-related hospitalization; children aged 0-4 (OR = 4.36, p = .0005) and children aged 5-17 (OR = 4.09, p = .0005) were more likely to have an ITP-related ED visit during the follow-up period. CONCLUSION: There are 17 patients diagnosed with ITP for every 100,000 Texas Medicaid enrollees annually, with higher prevalence in females and the elderly. Children are more likely to experience hospitalizations and ED visits associated with ITP. ITP patients in Texas Medicaid utilize more healthcare resources compared to the general Medicaid population.

Impact of a G-CSF Policy to Reduce Low-Value Care on Guideline Adherence and Mortality.

PURPOSE: Practice guidelines recommend the prophylactic use of granulocyte colony-stimulating factors (G-CSFs) in patients with high risk of febrile neutropenia, but evidence suggests that G-CSFs are frequently overused. The objectives of this study were (1) to determine the prevalence and prescribing patterns of G-CSF and (2) to evaluate the impact of a program initiative on G-CSF prescribing patterns, adherence to guidelines, and mortality. METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, data were used from the electronic health records of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who received care at a multicenter oncology practice network during two time periods: July 01, 2013, to December 31, 2014, and July 01, 2017, to December 31, 2017. Beginning 2016, a site-wide program initiative that involved educational materials, appropriate nonuse recommendations, and prior authorization was introduced in the oncology practice network with an aim of reducing G-CSF overutilization. Descriptive statistics, t tests, and chi-squared tests were employed to analyze program impact. RESULTS: There were 3,426 chemotherapy regimens corresponding to 2,968 patients. There were a total of 387 (11.3%) G-CSF-treated patients and 3,095 G-CSF administrations during the study period. G-CSF use was significantly lower in the postperiod, compared with the preperiod (P < .0001). Adherence to guidelines was significantly higher in the postperiod, compared with the preperiod (P < .0001). Mortality rates did not significantly differ between the two time periods. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that policy initiatives have the potential to positively affect G-CSF prescription patterns and promote guideline adherence. These findings could help prescribers adopt a cost-effective approach in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, leading to enhanced clinical practice and value-based care.

Examination of Barriers to Medication Adherence, Asthma Management, and Control Among Community Pharmacy Patients With Asthma.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the prevalence of common barriers to asthma medication adherence and examine associations between patient-reported asthma controller adherence and asthma control, therapy adherence barriers, and asthma management characteristics. METHODS: Previously developed asthma-specific tool was pilot tested on a convenience sample of adult patients with persistent asthma. The following data were collected via patient survey: demographic characteristics and comorbidities, adherence, asthma control, and asthma management characteristics. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to address the study objective. RESULTS: The patients (N = 93) were 45.4 (17.2) years of age, and 66.7% were female. The majority had poor (68.8%) adherence, with 61.3% of patients having controlled asthma. There was no significant association between adherence and asthma control. The mean number of barriers for good and poor adherence groups differed significantly: 2.0 ± 1.1 and 5.4 ± 2.4, respectively (P < .0001). Having an asthma action plan (AAP) was the only asthma management characteristic significantly related to adherence. The majority of patients with poor adherence did not have an AAP (76.6%), whereas 81.5% of patients with good adherence did have an AAP (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The use of this survey tool confirmed presence of asthma-specific barriers, thus using this specialized approach may lead to more effective, targeted counseling in community pharmacy settings.

Evaluation of access to care issues in patients with breast cancer.

AIMS: System-level efforts have been deployed to improve oncology care and access while reducing utilization and costs. Understanding the nature of access to care from the perspective of patients themselves is an unmet need. This study examined access to care in a population of women with breast cancer and its relationship to overall patient satisfaction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients with breast cancer from six oncology clinics in five states completed a survey during routine office visits. Access to care (higher scores indicated increasing access barriers), overall patient satisfaction, and patient demographic/clinical characteristics were measured. The relationships between access (composite and factor scores) and satisfaction were assessed using multivariable analyses controlling for age (the only significant characteristic from bivariate analyses). RESULTS: A total of 180 patients completed the survey. Factor analysis of access to care items revealed an 8-factor measure - Insurance, Health System, Emotional, Holistic Treatment, Family Support, Knowledge/Understanding, Information Quality, and Financial Support - with high reliability (Composite: Cronbach alpha = 0.93; Factors: Cronbach alpha range = 0.85-0.91). Access composite score was moderately low (mean = 1.90), indicating an overall low level of access barriers, and overall patient satisfaction was high (mean = 4.59). The composite score (p < .001) and the Health System and Knowledge/Understanding factors (p < .01) were significant and negative predictors of overall satisfaction. LIMITATIONS: Study sites were high functioning clinics and all, but one, are Oncology Care Model practices. Thus, the scope of access to care issues for patients of under-resourced clinics might not be well addressed. CONCLUSIONS: Access to care overall and by factor was significantly predictive of patient satisfaction with care. In addition, access to care factors varied across several demographic and clinical characteristics. Future strategies that address access to care challenges should consider these modifiable, patient-centric, and system-based issues.

Association between Vaso-occlusive Crises and Opioid Prescriptions among Patients with Sickle Cell Disease: A Retrospective Claims-based Study.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Among sickle cell disease (SCD) patients, vaso-occlusive crises (VOCs) are recurrent and unpredictable attacks of acute pain. These pain crises are often treated with analgesics, including opioids, which have been associated with misuse and overdose. The aim of this study was to examine the association between VOC events and opioid use and assess the association between opioid prescriptions and health care resource utilization among SCD patients. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study using Texas Medicaid medical and prescription claims between September 2011 and August 2016. The index date was the first SCD diagnosis. Patients (2-63 years) with at least one inpatient or two outpatient SCD diagnoses, who were continuously enrolled during 12 months postindex, were included in the study. The primary outcome was number of opioid prescriptions, while the independent variable was number of VOC events. Covariates included age, gender, nonopioid medication use, nonstudy SCD-related medication (penicillin and folic acid) use, evidence of blood transfusions, number of SCD-related complications, number of SCD-related comorbid conditions, and Charlson Comorbidity Index score. Negative binomial regression analysis was used to address study objectives. RESULTS: Of 3368 included patients, 1978 (58.7%) had at least one opioid prescription with a mean of 4.2 (SD=7.2). Overall, 2071 (61.5%) had at least one VOC event with an average of 2.9 (SD=4.4). The results from the negative binomial regression showed that for every increase in VOC events, the number of opioid prescriptions increased by 9.5% (Incidence rate ratio=1.095, 95% CI: 1.078-1.111; P ≤ 0.0001). Other significant covariates associated with higher opioid use included age (13 and older compared to 2-12) and increase in the number of nonopioid pain medications, nonstudy SCD-related medications, and SCD-related complications. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of SCD patients had at least one VOC event and were prescribed opioids during the 12-month study period. We found that each VOC event was associated with a 9.5% increase in the use of opioids. SCD guidelines recommend opioids for the treatment of VOC-related pain. Payers and providers should be aware of opioid use in this population, consider appropriate VOC prevention measures, and provide SCD patients with access to appropriate pain management.

Association Between Vaso-Occlusive Crises and Opioid Prescriptions Among Patients with Sickle Cell Disease: A Retrospective Claims-Based Study.

Background/Objectives: Among sickle cell disease (SCD) patients, vaso-occlusive crises (VOCs) are recurrent and unpredictable attacks of acute pain. These pain crises are often treated with analgesics, including opioids, which have been associated with misuse and overdose. The aim of this study was to examine the association between VOC events and opioid use and assess the association between opioid prescriptions and health care resource utilization among SCD patients. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study using Texas Medicaid medical and prescription claims between September 2011 and August 2016. The index date was the first SCD diagnosis. Patients (2-63 years) with at least one inpatient or two outpatient SCD diagnoses, who were continuously enrolled during 12 months postindex, were included in the study. The primary outcome was number of opioid prescriptions, while the independent variable was number of VOC events. Covariates included age, gender, nonopioid medication use, nonstudy SCD-related medication (penicillin and folic acid) use, evidence of blood transfusions, number of SCD-related complications, number of SCD-related comorbid conditions, and Charlson Comorbidity Index score. Negative binomial regression analysis was used to address study objectives. Results: Of 3368 included patients, 1978 (58.7%) had at least one opioid prescription with a mean of 4.2 (SD=7.2). Overall, 2071 (61.5%) had at least one VOC event with an average of 2.9 (SD=4.4). The results from the negative binomial regression showed that for every increase in VOC events, the number of opioid prescriptions increased by 9.5% (Incidence rate ratio=1.095, 95% CI: 1.078-1.111; P ≤ 0.0001). Other significant covariates associated with higher opioid use included age (13 and older compared to 2-12) and increase in the number of nonopioid pain medications, nonstudy SCD-related medications, and SCD-related complications. Conclusions: The majority of SCD patients had at least one VOC event and were prescribed opioids during the 12-month study period. We found that each VOC event was associated with a 9.5% increase in the use of opioids. SCD guidelines recommend opioids for the treatment of VOC-related pain. Payers and providers should be aware of opioid use in this population, consider appropriate VOC prevention measures, and provide SCD patients with access to appropriate pain management.

Comparison of Prostaglandin Analog Treatment Patterns in Glaucoma and Ocular Hypertension.

BACKGROUND: Prostaglandin analogs (PGAs) are considered an initial therapy to manage increased intraocular pressure (IOP) for patients with glaucoma. When the initial PGA treatment fails to lower IOP adequately, the patient may add or change medications or have surgery/laser treatment. OBJECTIVE: To compare medication adherence, duration of therapy, and treatment patterns among 3 PGAs-latanoprost, travoprost, and bimatoprost-as initial therapies for patients with glaucoma or ocular hypertension. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study using administrative claims data. The cohort consisted of patients newly diagnosed with glaucoma or ocular hypertension with at least 1 prescription claim for latanoprost, travoprost, or bimatoprost and enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan between 2007 and 2012. The 24-month medication possession ratio (MPR) was used to measure medication adherence. Discontinuation of first-line PGA therapy was defined as nonpersistence (90-day gap allowance) of the index PGA or a change in therapy during the 24-month follow-up period. Types of second-line therapy (i.e., switch, addition, and surgery) were identified. The 1:1:1 propensity score matching was used. RESULTS: Patients who met the inclusion criteria were propensity score matched, resulting in 1,296 patients per PGA group. Latanoprost users showed higher adherence (50.1%) than travoprost (48.8%) and bimatoprost (43.0%) users. The latanoprost and travoprost groups had significantly higher MPRs than bimatoprost (P < 0.0001). The latanoprost group showed significantly longer duration of first-line therapy (372 days) than the bimatoprost group (343 days; P = 0.003) but not the travoprost group (361 days). After controlling for demographic and clinical characteristics, a Cox proportional hazards model showed that the travoprost and bimatoprost groups had a higher risk of discontinuation of first-line therapy than the latanoprost group (P < 0.0001). The percentage of patients continuing on the index PGA without treatment pattern change (i.e., switches, additions, and surgery) was higher for latanoprost users (52.9%) compared with travoprost (39.0%) or bimatoprost users (42.1%; P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Patients who used latanoprost as their initial therapy were more likely to adhere and persist to the index PGA compared with bimatoprost users. The latanoprost group demonstrated a lower risk of discontinuing first-line therapy than the travoprost and bimatoprost groups. The results may assist ophthalmologists in determining the optimal management of this patient population with respect to treatment patterns. DISCLOSURES: No outside funding supported this study. All authors except Heo and Nair are employed by The University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy. Heo was with the Health Outcomes Division, The University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy during a portion of this study and is employed by Genesis Research. Nair is employed by Humana. The authors have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose. This study was presented as a poster at the 2016 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research Annual Meeting, May 2016, Washington, DC.

Examining the heterogeneity of treatment patterns in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder among children and adolescents in the Texas Medicaid population: modeling suboptimal treatment response.

Objectives: To examine suboptimal responses (SR) in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among pediatric patients in the Texas Medicaid program receiving osmotic-release oral system methylphenidate (OROS-MPH) or lisdexamfetamine (LDX) and apply an SR prediction model to identify patients most likely to experience an SR to either OROS-MPH or LDX therapies. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using Texas Medicaid claims data of ADHD children and adolescents (6-17 years of age) initiating OROS-MPH or LDX. Primary SR endpoints were drug discontinuation, switching, and augmentation 12-months post-ADHD drug initiation. Logistic regression models were developed to predict SR to OROS-MPH and LDX in 1:1 matched groups of children and adolescent cohorts. Results: A total of 3,633 children and 1,611 adolescents were matched for each cohort. SR was observed among more children (76.4% vs 72.3%; p < 0.001) and adolescents (82.7% vs 78.2%; p = 0.002) initiating OROS-MPH compared to LDX. Patient sub-groups with the highest predicted risk of OROS-MPH SR experienced significantly lower observed SR rates (p < 0.05) when initiating LDX (children: 80.6% for OROS-MPH vs 75.8% for LDX; OR = 0.75, 95% CI = 0.60-0.94; adolescents: 87.2% for OROS-MPH vs 80.6% for LDX; OR = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.41-0.89). For patients with highest predicted SR rates to LDX, observed SR rates were not significantly different between patients initiating LDX or OROS-MPH. Conclusions: This study demonstrated how a personalized medicine approach using administrative claims data can be used to identify sub-groups of child and adolescent ADHD patients with different risks for suboptimal response with OROS-MPH or LDX in a Medicaid population.

Patterns of antiepileptic drug use in patients with potential refractory epilepsy in Texas Medicaid.

OBJECTIVES: Antiepileptic drug (AED) monotherapy is usually effective in 60% of the patients with epilepsy while the remaining patients have refractory epilepsy. This study compared treatment patterns (adherence, persistence, addition, and switching) associated with refractory and nonrefractory epilepsy. METHODS: Texas Medicaid claims from 09/01/07-12/31/13 were analyzed, and patients eligible for the study 1) were between 18 and 62 years of age, 2) had a prescription claim for an AED during the identification period (03/01/08-12/31/11) with no prior baseline AED use (6-month), and 3) had evidence of epilepsy diagnosis within 6 months of AED use. Based on AED use in the identification period, patients were categorized into "refractory" (≥3AEDs) and "nonrefractory" (<3AEDs) cohorts. The index date was the date of the first AED claim. Patients in both cohorts were matched 1:1 using propensity scoring and compared for adherence (proportion of days covered (PDC) ≥80% vs. <80%), persistence, addition (yes/no), and switching (yes/no) using multivariate conditional regression models. Conditional logistic regression and Cox proportional hazard models were used to address the study objectives. RESULTS: Of the 10,599 eligible patients, 2798 (26.5%) patients in the refractory cohort were matched to patients in the nonrefractory cohort. Patients in the refractory cohort had significantly higher (p < 0.005) mean (±Standard deviation (SD)) adherence (88.6% (±19.1%) vs. 77.0% ±â€¯(25.8%)) and persistence (328.0 (±87.3) days vs. 294.9 ±â€¯(113.4) days) as compared with patients in the nonrefractory cohort. Compared with patients with nonrefractory epilepsy, patients with refractory epilepsy were 3.6 times (odds ratio (OR) = 3.553; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 3.060-4.125; p < 0.0001) more likely to adhere to AEDs and had a 34.7% (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.653; 95% CI = 0.608-0.702; p < 0.0001) lower hazard rate of discontinuation of AEDs. Also, patients with refractory epilepsy were 3.7 times (OR = 3.723; 95% CI = 2.902-4.776; p < 0.0001) more likely to add an alternative AED and 3.6 times (OR = 3.591; 95% CI = 3.010-4.284; p < 0.0001) more likely to switch to an alternative AED. CONCLUSION: Patients with refractory epilepsy were significantly more likely to adhere and persist to AED regimen and were significantly more likely to add and switch to an alternative AED than patients with nonrefractory epilepsy.

Fetal fibronectin testing and pregnancy outcomes among Texas Medicaid patients at risk for preterm birth.

OBJECTIVES: Fetal fibronectin (fFN) testing between the 24th and 34th weeks of pregnancy in patients with symptomatic preterm labor (PTL) helps assess the risk of spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB), yet the extent of its use is unknown. We assessed use of fFN testing among Texas Medicaid enrollees with symptomatic PTL and evaluated time to infant delivery and healthcare utilization/costs. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study using medical and pharmacy claims for Texas Medicaid enrollees. METHODS: We identified pregnant women triaged through the emergency department (ED) and hospital labor-and-delivery units with symptomatic PTL between January 1, 2012, and May 31, 2015. Patients with fFN testing prior to delivery were propensity score matched 1:1 to patients without fFN testing. Primary outcomes included time to delivery from initial PTL encounter and all-cause maternal healthcare utilization and costs. RESULTS: A total of 29,553 women met the criteria for analysis, of whom 14% had a record of receiving fFN testing. Each matched cohort included 4098 patients. Compared with those who did not, patients who underwent fFN testing had significantly more clinical risk factors (mean [SD]: 1.7 [1.1] vs 1.1 [1.0]; P <.0001) and were less likely to deliver during the initial hospital stay (odds ratio [OR], 0.539; 95% CI, 0.489-0.594), deliver ≤3 days following the hospital/ED encounter (OR, 0.499; 95% CI, 0.452-0.551); and receive their first PTL diagnosis during the initial hospital/ED encounter (OR, 0.598; 95% CI, 0.539-0.665). Patients who had an fFN test, compared with those who did not, had 17.5% higher total costs (P <.0001) during the 5 months prior to delivery, but had gestation lengths 9.4 days longer (24.6 vs 15.2 days) than those without testing. CONCLUSIONS: Frequency of fFN testing was low in Texas Medicaid enrollees with symptomatic PTL. Patients with fFN testing had longer gestation periods and were less likely to deliver within ≤3 days of a hospital/ED encounter for PTL. These results support the role of fFN in screening for risk for sPTB among women with symptomatic PTL.

Use of Statins and the Risk of Incident Diabetes: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

INTRODUCTION: Even though several landmark statin trials have demonstrated the beneficial effects of statin therapy in both primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, several studies have suggested that statins are associated with a moderate increase in risk of new-onset diabetes. These observations prompted the US FDA to revise statin labels to include a warning of an increased risk of incident diabetes mellitus as a result of increases in glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and fasting plasma glucose. However, few studies have used US-based data to investigate this statin-associated increased risk of diabetes. OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of our study was to examine whether the use of statins increases the risk of incident diabetes mellitus using data from the Thomson Reuters MarketScan (®) Commercial Claims and Encounters Database. METHOD: This study was a retrospective cohort analysis utilizing data for the period 2003-2004. The study population included new statin users aged 20-63 years at index who did not have a history of diabetes. RESULTS: The proportion (3.4 %) of statin users (N = 53,212) who had incident diabetes was higher than the proportion (1.2 %) of non-statin users (N = 53,212) who had incident diabetes. Compared with no statin use and controlling for demographic and clinical covariates, statin use was significantly associated with increased risk of incident diabetes (hazard ratio 2.01; 99 % confidence interval 1.74-2.33; p < 0.0001). In addition, risk of diabetes was highest among users of lovastatin, atorvastatin, simvastatin, and fluvastatin. Diabetes risk was lowest among pravastatin and rosuvastatin users. DISCUSSION: Because the potential for diabetogenicity differs among different statin types, healthcare professionals should individualize statin therapy by identifying patients who would benefit more from less diabetogenic statin types.

Medication Adherence and Persistence in Patients with Severe Major Depressive Disorder with Psychotic Features: Antidepressant and Second-Generation Antipsychotic Therapy Versus Antidepressant Monotherapy.

BACKGROUND: Major depressive disorder with psychotic features, or psychotic depression, is a severe mental health disorder often associated with a worse depression-related symptom profile when compared with major depressive disorder without psychotic features. While combination pharmacotherapy with an antidepressant and an antipsychotic is recommended as first-line therapy, antidepressant monotherapy has been found to be useful and efficacious in psychotic depression. OBJECTIVE: To assess the rates of antidepressant adherence and antidepressant persistence in Texas Medicaid patients with psychotic depression who used antidepressant plus second-generation antipsychotic (AD/SGA) therapy or antidepressant (AD) monotherapy. METHODS: Using Texas Medicaid prescription and medical claims data from September 2007 to December 2012, adult patients aged 18-63 years were included if they had no confounding psychiatric disorders, no antidepressant claims during a 6-month pre-index period, and at least 1 diagnosis for severe major depressive disorder with psychotic features (ICD-9-CM codes 296.24 and 296.34). The first claim date for an antidepressant served as the index date. All patients were required to have at least 2 antidepressant claims, and those in the AD/SGA cohort were required to have 2 or more claims for an SGA. Study covariates included age, gender, race/ethnicity, residence, Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) score, and tobacco use/dependence. Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, univariate analyses, logistic regression, and Cox proportional hazards regression. RESULTS: A total of 926 patients met study criteria (AD cohort = 510; AD/SGA cohort = 416). The overall sample had a mean [±SD] age of 40.5 [±13.2] years and was primarily female (66.8%) and non-Caucasian (74.8%). When compared with the AD cohort, patients in the AD/SGA cohort had a 52.3% higher likelihood of being adherent to antidepressant therapy based on proportion of days covered (PDC; OR = 1.523; 95% CI = 1.129-2.053; P = 0.006). Similarly, antidepressant adherence was 42.0% higher for the AD/SGA cohort based on medication possession ratio (MPR; OR = 1.420; 95% CI = 1.062-1.898; P = 0.018). Younger patients, African Americans, and tobacco users/dependents had significantly worse likelihoods of antidepressant medication adherence based on PDC and MPR. The risk of antidepressant nonpersistence was 23.2% lower for patients in the AD/SGA cohort (HR = 0.768; 95% CI = 0.659-0.896; P = 0.001), compared with those in the AD cohort. Antidepressant nonpersistence was significantly higher in younger patients, African Americans, Hispanics, and tobacco users/dependents. CONCLUSIONS: Better antidepressant adherence and persistence outcomes were associated with combination pharmacotherapy with an AD and an SGA antipsychotic. This study provides real-world estimates that support the current first-line treatment recommendations for psychotic depression; however, it should be noted that the majority of study patients used AD therapy only. Future research in psychotic depression is needed. DISCLOSURES: Kim-Romo received funding to conduct this study from the PhRMA Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship in Health Outcomes. Rascati, Richards, Ford, Wilson, and Beretvas declare no conflict of interest in relation to this manuscript. Kim-Romo and Rascati collaborated on the study design, data analysis, study interpretation, and writing of this manuscript. Richards, Ford, Wilson, and Beretvas provided critical evaluation of the study design, analysis, and interpretation, as well as edited this manuscript.

Examining Time to Initiation of Biologic Disease-modifying Antirheumatic Drugs and Medication Adherence and Persistence Among Texas Medicaid Recipients With Rheumatoid Arthritis.

PURPOSE: Little is known about the transition from nonbiologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) to biologic DMARDs or about individual nonbiologic DMARD use patterns among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This study examined time to initiation of biologic DMARDs and nonbiologic DMARD medication adherence and persistence among Texas Medicaid recipients with RA taking nonbiologic DMARDs. METHODS: In this retrospective study (July 1, 2003-December 31, 2010) of the Texas Medicaid database, patients were aged 18 to 62 years at index, were diagnosed with RA (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification, code 714.xx), had no claims for nonbiologic or biologic DMARDs in the preindex period, and had a minimum of 2 prescription claims for the same nonbiologic DMARD in the postindex period. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and log-rank tests were used to compare time to initiation of biologic DMARDs according to nonbiologic DMARD type and therapy. Adherence and persistence were examined according to nonbiologic type and therapy by using ANOVA models and χ(2), Duncan, and t tests. FINDINGS: On average, patients were 47.9 (± 10.4) years of age, mostly female (89.1%) and Hispanic (55.2%). Methotrexate (MTX) and leflunomide (LEF) users took the shortest time to initiate biologic DMARDs (207 [190] days and 188 [205] days, respectively). LEF users had the highest mean adherence of 37.5% (27.5%), which was similar to MTX users (35.7% [26.9%]), whereas dual-therapy users had the lowest mean adherence at 17.1% (14.4%). Sulfasalazine users (108 [121] days) had the lowest persistence, whereas LEF (227 [231] days) and MTX (211 [222] days) users had the longest persistence. Nonbiologic DMARD monotherapy users were more adherent than dual-therapy users (32.6% [25.8%] vs 17.1% [14.4%]). IMPLICATIONS: These results should be interpreted in light of some study limitations, such as using proportion of days covered as a proxy for adherence, not having clinical data to control for RA severity, and lack of generalizability to all US populations. Given the study findings, both clinicians and other decision makers may want to investigate the potential driving factors of initiation of biologic DMARDs to provide effective RA management and consider patient education programs to enhance medication adherence and persistence to RA medications.

Asthma Controller Medication Adherence, Risk of Exacerbation, and Use of Rescue Agents Among Texas Medicaid Patients with Persistent Asthma.

BACKGROUND: Adherence to asthma long-term controller medications is one of the key drivers to improve asthma management among patients with persistent asthma. While suboptimal use of controller medications has been found to be associated with more frequent use of oral corticosteroids (OCS), few studies exist regarding the relationship between adherence to controller therapy and the use of short-acting beta2-agonists (SABAs). A better understanding of the association between adherence to asthma controller agents and use of reliever medications will help health care providers and decision makers enhance asthma management. OBJECTIVE: To determine if there is a relationship between asthma controller adherence, risk of exacerbation requiring OCS, and use of asthma rescue agents. METHODS: Texas Medicaid claims data from January 1, 2008, to August 31, 2011, were retrospectively analyzed. Continuously enrolled patients aged 5-63 years with a primary diagnosis of asthma (ICD-9-CM code 493) and with 4 or more prescription claims for any asthma medication in 1 year (persistent asthma) were included. The index date was the date of the first asthma controller prescription, and patients were followed for 1 year. The primary outcome variables were SABA (dichotomous: less than 6 vs. ≥ 6) and OCS (continuous) use. The primary independent variable was adherence (proportion of days covered [PDC]) to asthma long-term controller medications. Covariates included demographics and nonstudy medication utilization. Multivariate logistic and linear regression analyses were employed to address the study objective. RESULTS: The study sample (n = 32,172) was aged 15.0 ± 14.5 years, and adherence to controller therapy was 32.2% ± 19.7%. The mean number of SABA claims was 3.7 ± 3.1, with most patients having 1-5 claims (73.2%), whereas 19.4% had ≥ 6 SABA claims. The mean number of OCS claims was 1.0 ± 1.4. Adherent (PDC ≥ 50%) patients were 96.7% (OR = 1.967; 95% CI = 1.826-2.120) more likely to have ≥ 6 SABA claims when compared with nonadherent (PDC less than 50%) patients (P less than 0.001). As for OCS use, adherent patients had 0.11 fewer claims compared with nonadherent patients (P less than 0.001). Importantly, patients with ≥ 6 SABA claims had 0.7 more OCS claims compared with patients with less than 6 claims for SABA (P less than 0.001). The odds of having ≥ 6 SABA claims were higher for concurrent dual therapy users, older age, males, African Americans and higher number of nonstudy medications (P less than 0.001). Dual therapy users, younger age, Hispanic ethnicity, and higher number of nonstudy medications were associated with an increase in OCS use (P less than 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: Adherence to long-term controller medications was suboptimal among patients with asthma. Adherent patients had fewer OCS claims, indicating that adherence to controller therapy is critical in preventing asthma exacerbations requiring OCS use. Although there was a positive relationship between adherence to long-term controller medication and SABA use, increased SABA use served as a predictor of increased OCS use, which indicates poor asthma control. Health care providers should be aware of OCS and SABA use among patients who are both adherent and nonadherent to asthma controller medications.