A Community-Based Intervention for Improving Medication Adherence for Elderly Patients with Hypertension in Korea

Kang-Ju Son, Hyo-Rim Son, Bohyeun Park, Hee-Ja Kim and Chun-Bae Kim
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Kang-Ju Son: Research Institute for Healthcare Policy, Korean Medical Association, Seoul 04373, Korea
Hyo-Rim Son: Hongcheon County Hypertension and Diabetes Registration and Education Center, Kangwon Province, Hongcheon 25135, Korea
Bohyeun Park: Hongcheon County Health Center, Kangwon Province, Hongcheon 25135, Korea
Hee-Ja Kim: Hoengseong County Health Center, Kangwon Province, Hoengseong 25220, Korea
Chun-Bae Kim: Hongcheon County Hypertension and Diabetes Registration and Education Center, Kangwon Province, Hongcheon 25135, Korea

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 5, 1-15

Abstract: The chronic disease management program, a community-based intervention including patient education, recall and remind service, and reduction of out-of-pocket payment, was implemented in 2005 in Korea to improve patients’ adherence for antihypertensive medications. This study aimed to assess the effect of a community-based hypertension intervention intended to enhance patient adherence to prescribed medications. This study applied a non-equivalent control group design using the Korean National Health Insurance Big Data. Hongcheon County has been continuously implementing the intervention program since 2012. This study involved a cohort of patients with hypertension aged >65 and <85 years, among residents who lived in the study area for five years (between 2010 and 2014). The final number of subjects was 2685 in both the intervention and control region. The indirect indicators were analyzed as patients’ adherence and level of continuous treatment using the difference-in-difference regression. The proportion of hypertensive patients who continuously received insurance benefits for >240 days in 2014 was 81.0% in the intervention region and 79.7% in the control region. The number of dispensations per prescription and the dispensation days per hypertensive patient in the intervention region increased by approximately 10.88% and 2.2 days on average by month, respectively, compared to those in the control region. The intervention program encouraged elderly patients with hypertension to receive continuous care. Another research is needed to determine whether further improvement in the continuity of comprehensive care will prevent the progression of cardiovascular diseases.

Keywords: hypertension; medication adherence; community-based intervention; difference-in-difference regression (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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