PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 526 - 21 Apr 2007 DM for CHF increases therapy compliance Congestive heart failure (CHF) disease management programs (DM) result in increased total pharmacy prescriptions and an increased ACE inhibitor use for patients with CHF, report US-based researchers. In their drug utility analysis they evaluated data from 482 such US Medicaid patients, of whom 250 received a customised DM plan including education sessions, counselling, compliance reminders and printed action plans; the remaining control patients received no such intervention. A propensity score matched analysis included 162 matched pairs, while a covariate adjustment analysis included all patients. In the matched-cohort analysis, the DM intervention was associated with a significant increase in the total pharmacy prescription rate (annualised rate per 1000) of 25%, compared with controls. In addition, the proportion of patients utilising ACE inhibitors was increased significantly by 20.8% for the disease management group, compared with controls. β-blocker use was 16.3% higher for the DM group than for the controls; however, this difference did not reach statistical significance. For the covariate adjustment analysis, comparable results were obtained, with significantly greater total pharmacy prescriptions, ACE inhibitor use and nonsignificantly greater β-blocker use for the DM intervention group, compared with controls. Moscoso AC, et al. Estimating the impact of a congestive heart failure disease management program on prescription drug use: a state Medicaid program. Disease 801016993 Management and Health Outcomes 15: 33-40, No. 1, 2007

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PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 21 Apr 2007 No. 526

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