The effect of medical home enrollment on cardiometabolic medication adherence among Medicaid-insured cancer patients.

Abstract

279 Background: Medical homes, developed to increase care coordination among vulnerable patient populations, have been successful in improving outcomes of patients with multiple chronic comorbidities, but have not been evaluated among cancer survivors. We determined the impact of medical home enrollment on adherence to anti-diabetics, anti-lipidemics, and anti-hypertensives among Medicaid patients diagnosed with non-metastatic breast, colorectal, or lung cancer. Methods: Using linked cancer registry and claims data from North Carolina, we included Medicaid-insured adults diagnosed from 2004-2012 with breast, colorectal, or lung cancer who had at least one cardiometabolic condition (i.e., hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus). For each cardiometabolic condition, we measured medication adherence using ambulatory proportion of days covered (PDC). We examined the impact of medical home enrollment on PDC across the phases of cancer care (i.e., pre-cancer diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship phases) using a differences-in-differences model. All models adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, dual enrollment, cancer type, comorbidity index, and number of cardiometabolic conditions. Results: We included, respectively, 765, 1079, and 1634 cancer patients with diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension. Overall, adherence to anti-lipidemics was lower than adherence to anti-diabetics and anti-hypertensives. In the pre-diagnosis phase, mean PDC across all cardiometabolic conditions was slightly lower for cancer patients enrolled in a medical home than those not enrolled in a medical home. However, medication adherence improved 3-5% in the treatment phase and 7% in the survivorship phase for cancer patients in a medical home compared to cancer patients not in a medical home during the pre-diagnosis phase. Conclusions: These results provide evidence that enrollment in a medical home can improve medication adherence, even among vulnerable cancer patients with complex health needs. The medical home model is an effective healthcare system intervention through which to provide better care coordination and improve patient outcomes.