Effect on medication adherence of applying a specialty pharmacy care model to nonspecialty medications: A quasi-experimental cohort study.

This article examines the impact of applying a specialty pharmacy care model to patients receiving nonspecialty medications within a health system. The study compared medication adherence, measured by proportion of days covered (PDC), before and after transferring patients from a health-system retail pharmacy to a health-system specialty pharmacy (HSSP) between April 2020 and June 2021. Results from 163 patients showed a significant 7.0% increase in mean PDC post-transfer, along with higher proportions of patients achieving adherence thresholds of 80% and 90%, fewer shipments per patient, more medications per shipment, and reduced patient copays. The findings suggest that the specialty pharmacy care model—which includes services such as benefits investigation, financial assistance, and proactive refill reminders—may improve adherence and reduce costs for nonspecialty medication patients, though further research is needed to identify which medication classes and patient populations benefit most.