Varying Pharmacy Benefits With Clinical Status: The Case of Cholesterol-lowering Therapy

January 2006 Varying Pharmacy Benefits With Clinical Status: The Case of Cholesterol Lowering Therapy This study investigated the connection between the dollar amount of pharmacy benefit co-payments and medication compliance with cholesterol lowering medications. Then the researchers tested the association between medication compliance and subsequent hospitalization and emergency department (ED) use during a four-year follow up period. During the first phase of the test, the fraction of fully compliant patients dropped between six to ten percent, when co-payments increased from $10 to $20. Full compliance was later associated with 357 fewer hospitalizations per 1,000 high-risk . . .