Paul DuBose, PhD Co-presents SafeUseNow℠ Program Outcomes at AMCP's 26th Annual Meeting & Expo
Tampa, FL, April 1-4, 2014
Session speakers Paul DuBose, PhD, Vice President, Analytics, Principled Strategies, and Saira Jan, MS, PharmD, director of clinical pharmacy management, Horizon BlueCross BlueShield of New Jersey, reported the outcomes of a multiyear SafeUseNow pilot program designed to reduce behaviors associated with avoidable medical services and costs.
The SafeUseNow program was designed with a prescriber-centric approach to augment patient-focused efforts already in place. The goals of the program include:
• Identify prescriber factors of inappropriate prescribing
• Coordinate care with behavioral health case managers
• Provide education and resources prescribers perceive as valuable
• Safe use of opioids for patients who require treatment for pain
• No abandonment of “difficult” patients
SafeUseNow used a fixed effects panel regression method to determine various risk factor (eg, PSI Score, multiple healthcare providers, multiple pharmacies, and concomitance) and utilization factor (eg, opioid prescription claims and morphine equivalent dose [mg]) end points. Data showed that the cumulative 12-month savings for 1125 prescribers for opioid prescription claims was $2,596,189; and the cumulative 12-month savings for 1125 prescribers for other nonopioid prescription claims was $461,731.
The pilot program was first introduced at AMCP’s 2013 meeting.