Patient Experience With Care and Its Association With Adherence to Hypertension Medications

BACKGROUND Medication adherence is crucial to effective chronic disease management, yet little is known about the influence of the patient–provider interaction on medication adherence to hypertensive regimens. We aimed to examine the association between the patient’s experience with care and medication adherence. METHODS We collected 2,128 surveys over 4 years from a convenience sample of hypertensive patients seeking care at three urban safety-net practices in upstate New York. The survey collected adherence measures using the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) and patient experience measures. We used regression models to adjust for age, gender, race/ethnicity, self-reported health status, and clustering by patients. The primary outcome was reporting of medium-to-high adherence (MMAS ≥ 6) vs. low adherence RESULTS A total of 62.5% of respondents reported medium-to-high medication adherence. The concern the provider demonstrated for patient questions or worries (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 1.4; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1–1.7), provider efforts to include the patient in decisions (AOR 1.5; 95% CI 1.8–1.9), information given (AOR 1.3; 95% CI 1.0–1.6), and the overall rating of care received (AOR 1.4; 95% CI 1.1–1.8) were associated with higher medication adherence. The amount of time the provider spent was not associated with medication adherence (AOR 1.2; 95% CI 0.9–1.4). Medium-to-high medication adherence was in turn associated with increased hypertension control rates. CONCLUSIONS Overall, better experiences with care were associated with higher adherence to hypertension regimens. However, the amount of time the provider spent with the patient was not statistically associated with medication adherence, suggesting that the quality of communication may be more important than the absolute quantity of time

Effectiveness of a Multidisciplinary Intervention to Improve Hypertension Control in an Urban Underserved Practice

Patient-centered, multidisciplinary interventions offer one of the most promising strategies to improve blood pressure (BP) control, yet effectiveness trials in underserved real-world settings are limited. We used a multidisciplinary strategy to improve hypertension control in an underserved urban practice. We collected 1007 surveys to monitor medication adherence and used weighted generalized estimating equations to examine trends in BP control. We examined 13,404 visits from patients with hypertension between August 2010 and February 2014. Overall, BP control rates increased from 51.0% to 67.4% (adjusted odds ratio, 1.58; 95% confidence interval, 1.44-1.74) by the end of the intervention phase and were maintained during the postintervention phase (adjusted odds ratio, 1.60; 95% confidence interval, 1.41-1.82). Medication adherence scores increased across the intervention (5.9-6.6; P \u3c .001), but were not sustained at the conclusion of the study (5.9-6.2; P = .16). A multidisciplinary team approach involving registered nurses, pharmacists, and physicians resulted in substantial improvements in hypertension control in a real-world underserved setting