These data include the drug name, class, prescription identification number, prescription fill dates (primary and refills), number of allowable refills, date of next allowable refill, amount dispensed, day supply, unit price of the medication and directions for use.
Looking retrospectively 12 months from the patient's clinic visit, our VA pharmacy record details specific dates of when a medicine was first filled, dates of each fill and refill (noted by thin arrows in Appendix Figure 5), and days of supply the prescription would last if taken as prescribed (shaded boxes in Appendix Figure 5).
We examined the dates of the enrollment and refill questionnaires to identify the subset of program participants who were not trained by OEND staff prior to an overdose rescue.
In brief, the CMG measure uses pharmacy data (including fill and refill dates, quantities, daily doses) to determine how many days over the past year the patient did not possess BP medications to take as prescribed, expressed as a percentage of days in past year.
They were also given projected monthly pharmacy refill dates and the date of the next doctor's appointment.
Refill dates and the quantity of drug dispensed were also recorded.
Refill dates and quantity of pills dispensed from pharmacies have also been used to assess HIV adherence rates.
Adherence was calculated by using pharmacy refill dates, and we have no measure of actual patient adherence to the prescriptions they filled.
Each refill period was identified as the interval between the last visit date and the scheduled refill date.
These included phone and Web-based prescription-ordering options; information on the medication bottle (refill phone number, number of refills and date); automatic refill systems that require no patient action to trigger the refill; paper mail-in slips included with each prescription order; and having clinic staff remind them about refills during appointments.
