PMS35 QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG OUTPATIENTS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS IN A REAL-LIFE SETTING IN GERMANY

Abstract

to examine the relationship between patients’ compliance to MS specialty medications and the total health care (pharmacy and medical) costs. METHODS: The study was conducted using a retrospective study design utilizing all MS-related pharmacy and medical claims maintained by a large PBM. Patients who were diagnosed with MS and who have had at least one prescription for specialty medications between July-December 2005 were identified and selected for the analysis. Patient’s compliance to specialty medications was assessed in terms of MPR. Patients were categorized into three different groups as—compliant (MPR > 0.8), partially compliant (MPR 0.5–0.8), and noncompliant (MPR < 0.5). All drug costs; all medical non drug costs as well as total health care costs were computed and compared across the three groups using independent t-tests. RESULTS: A total of 104 patients met the inclusion criteria and were included for the analysis. Compliant group patients had significantly high all drugs cost and significantly lower medical non-drug cost as compared to the non-compliant and partially compliant groups. The total health care costs were found to be comparable and non-significant among the three groups. CONCLUSION: Patients who were compliant to their specialty medications reported higher pharmacy cost and lower medical cost, thereby implying that there exists an inverse relationship between compliance and medical costs.