Medication compliance is a multifaceted behavior which requires patient commitment to medication scheduling, patient understanding of disease state treatment, patient-physician relationship, and pharmacist reinforcement by medication therapy management. This research investigates the impact a comprehensive medication compliance enhancing intervention has on healthcare utilization and costs on a specific Medicaid population.

The South Carolina Medicaid Program, Community Long Term Care, identified 273 patients who agreed to participate in a 12 month study. The patients were included in the study if they were continuously eligible for the Community Long Term Care program throughout the study and signed an informed consent form to participate in the study. Patients were excluded from the study if they did not meet all of the above inclusion requirements. Multivariate regression and conditional logistic regression models were used to tests for differences in utilization and costs between the intervention and non-intervention groups. Eight models were estimated and the results were assessed.

Results in seven of the eight models did not find a significant difference in utilization or costs in the intervention group versus the non-intervention group. Certain variables remained significant throughout the majority of models tested. Prior period utilization and prior period costs consistently proved to be significant predictors of study period utilization and costs. Comorbidity scores, CDS, were significant predictors of utilization and cost in five out of six models testing utilization and cost.

Investing resources to provide a comprehensive medication compliance enhancing intervention program, specifically targeting certain comorbidities, can have a positive impact on healthcare costs and utilization. Future research should also be undertaken to increase the amount of time the intervention patients are followed. Increasing the study period would allow for patient medication taking behavior to be altered in hopes of improving medication compliance and health outcomes.