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HLCCompendium
HLCCompendium
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NDHI<br />
NAT IONAL DIALOGUE FOR<br />
Healthcare Innovation<br />
Asthma and Depression<br />
Medication Adherence<br />
Outreach<br />
Organization Overview<br />
• BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee (BCBST) is a<br />
not-for-profit health insurance organization<br />
• BCBST provides benefits to about 12,000 companies<br />
and serves 3.3 million people<br />
• BCBST offers BlueCare Tennessee, a managed<br />
Medicaid program that serves over 600,000 members<br />
Background<br />
Failure to closely adhere to medication treatment plans<br />
can result in poorly controlled symptoms, relapse, and<br />
ultimately, high costs to the healthcare system. Some of<br />
the identified barriers to medication adherence include:<br />
• Failure to educate patients about the need for<br />
medication adherence, even when asymptomatic<br />
• Patient discomfort with medication side effects<br />
• Lack of communication between patients and practitioners<br />
about medication use<br />
BCBST aims to foster medication adherence through<br />
better patient education and follow-up practices. A<br />
multidisciplinary workgroup was established at Blue-<br />
Care Tennessee to address these barriers, including<br />
members from Quality Improvement, Member<br />
Education and Outreach, Information Delivery, and<br />
executive leadership. The group developed a targeted<br />
medication adherence outreach program for asthma<br />
and depression in November 2015, which continues<br />
to be improved upon today.<br />
Program Details<br />
The Asthma and Depression Medication Adherence<br />
Outreach Program targets BCBST Medicaid populations<br />
(including BlueCare Tennessee East, Middle<br />
and West, as well as TennCareSelect member populations)<br />
who have been diagnosed with asthma or major<br />
depression and have become non-compliant with their<br />
medication regimens.<br />
For these patients, the program has the following<br />
objectives:<br />
• Initiate follow-up on non-compliance with telephonic<br />
outreach to educate the member about the importance<br />
and benefits of medication adherence<br />
• Identify the patient’s barriers to medication adherence<br />
• Develop solutions with the patient to overcome<br />
identified barriers<br />
• Ensure that any additional services needed are<br />
available such as transportation, access to practitioners<br />
(follow-up appointments), access to medication<br />
refills, etc.<br />
An Initiative of the<br />
53 |<br />
Asthma and Depression Medication Adherence Outreach
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