In this Ask About Adherence post we speak with Sujit S. Sansgiry, PhD, a 2015 PhRMA Foundation Young Investigator Adherence grantee about his research focused on improving medication adherence.
Ask About Adherence: Q&A with PhRMA Foundation Young Investigator Adherence Grantee - Sujit S. Sansgiry
Ask About Adherence is a blog series featuring Q&A’s with experts in medication adherence. In this post, we speak with Sujit S. Sansgiry, PhD, a 2015 PhRMA Foundation Young Investigator Adherence grantee about his research focused on improving medication adherence.
Stay tuned for the next Q&A and be sure to share your thoughts in the comments section below. We’d love to hear from you on ways to improve medication adherence!
SAMANTHA DOUGHERTY: What are the objectives of your research?
SUJIT SANSGIRY: The objective of my project titled “Development and Validation of a Prognostic Tool to Identify Diabetes Patients at High Risk for Non-Adherence to Medications” is to provide Managed Care Organizations (MCO), especially those that serve Medicare patients, an opportunity to identify patients at high risk for non-adherence to oral antidiabetic drugs (OADs). We plan to accomplish this application by pursuing the following two specific aims:
DOUGHERTY: How do you think your research will help to guide practical, real world solutions to the adherence problem?
SANSGIRY: The cost of medication nonadherence has been estimated to be $100 billion to $300 billion annually for the U.S. health care system. Estimating and identifying patients likely to be non-adherent to medications prescribed in advance may help MCO’s develop better intervention strategies. The prognostic algorithm developed will help identify in advance patients in need for adherence assistance programs, thus avoiding the need to spend extra resources on patients who may be adherent by focusing on those that may be likely to be non-adherent. Use of prediction algorithms in clinical practice have helped to positively influence patient management in the past. Since the claim-based prognostic algorithm will be used as a web-based tool to calculate individual probabilities on a routine basis, no additional resources are needed once the automated process is initiated. We will also identify significant predictors of future non-adherence that are available in claims data. The project will be performed in collaboration with the MCO where each step will be designed to ensure feasibility and real-world applicability.
DOUGHERTY: How has/will the PhRMA Foundation grant advance your career in adherence research?
SANSGIRY: Our team, at the University of Houston, is actively involved with Cigna HealthSpring, a MCO, on their ongoing efforts to reduce medication non-adherence using structured pharmacist interventions. The objective to be fulfilled by the PhRMA Foundation award is an important first step for a cost-effective patient targeted approach to identify patients in need for adherence interventions. We anticipate results of this study will lead to several additional follow-up studies that will form the basis of substantial grant applications focused on patient targeted interventions. The grant will enable me, specifically to dedicate substantial amount of time towards medication adherence based research. We thank the PhRMA Foundation for this opportunity.
