Social Engagement Strategies to Improve Medication Adherence Among Older Adults in Los Angeles Count Participating in MyMeds

MyMeds (Managing Your Medication for Education and Daily Support) is an innovative care improvement program that embeds pharmacists into 27 University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) primary care practices with the goals of (1) simplifying and reconciling medication regimens; (2) identifying strategies to improve adherence; and (3) reducing patient costs with generic substitutions and drug assistance programs. This program targets complex older adults and adults with poorly-controlled diabetes of all ages, and has reached more than 7,000 patients since its implementation in 2012. In an evaluation of over 700 older adults (≥65 years-old) who received a MyMeds consultation, investigators showed that the program reduced hospitalizations. In another evaluation that included adults of all ages, investigators showed that MyMeds reduced emergency department use (21%), systolic blood pressure (4 mmHg), and HbA1c (0.8%). However, a major underused resource in efforts to improve the health of complex adults targeted by MyMeds is their social network. Social networks are cost-free and highly influential social relationships and interactions that influence behavior and conversely are influenced by a patient's behavior. Patients spend vastly more time interacting within their social networks than they do interacting with healthcare providers, and patients often share health information with supportive members of their social network. These interactions, which are often substantial in quantity, could be designed to beneficially influence a patient's ability to create and sustain healthy behavior change. Medication nonadherence, in particular, increases morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs in patients with chronic disease, but the private (rather than public) nature of taking medications limits the exposure of medication nonadherence to influence from the social network. An appropriately designed social network intervention can shift the dynamic, and MyMeds is an ideal setting for this type of intervention because it has robust infrastructure for identifying eligible patients, enrolling them in a pilot study, and measuring outcomes.

In this pilot study, investigators, in partnership with RCMAR mentorship team and the MyMeds program, will enroll patients from MyMeds with diabetes, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, or congestive heart failure with poor medication adherence (medication adherence percentage<80% for statin or antihypertensive therapy) who report having a least one loved one or friend (e.g., spouse) whom they consider to be invested in their health, and with whom they would be willing to share focused medical information about medication adherence in the form of text messages. Participants will be randomized into either a private feedback arm or social network arm. In the private feedback arm, participants will only receive private consultations from a pharmacist regarding their medication adherence rates. In the social network arm, participants and their chosen loved one or friend will receive bi-weekly feedback text messages regarding the participant's medication adherence. Investigators will evaluate the effects of this social network intervention on medication adherence and examine the program's acceptability among study participants. This proposal is innovative because it leverages social networks-largely unused in medical care-for health improvement.