Pharmacy subscription models like Amazon’s RxPass can improve medication adherence

The data: A new study showed that patients enrolled in a pharmacy subscription service such as Amazon’s RxPass had improved medication adherence and lower costs, according to a study recently published in JAMA Health Forum. Researchers compared 5,003 RxPass members with 5,137 control participants, before and after program enrollment.

For context, Amazon Pharmacy’s RxPass offers Prime members access to about 60 generic drugs for a flat fee of $5 per month with no restrictions on the number of prescriptions.

Digging into the findings: Access to RxPass led to greater medication adherence for members than non-members. The study evaluated three specific metrics that can impact medication adherence:

1. Medication supply days. Subscription enrollment was linked to a 27% increase in medication days' supply with an average of 10.39 more days per person per month. Longer days’ supply generally leads to greater adherence.
2. Prescription refills. Refills increased by 29%, with an additional 0.19 refills per person per month.
3. Lower out-of-pocket spending. Costs for program medications decreased by $2.35 per person per month, a 30% decrease.

Why it matters: Medication non-adherence or poor adherence contributes to over $500 billion in avoidable healthcare costs and around 125,000 potentially preventable deaths, according to data cited by the American Journal of Managed Care.

Cost and forgetfulness are two primary reasons why people don’t stick to their medication regimens. RxPass addresses both challenges since members can bundle multiple medications for one flat fee (especially valuable for chronic condition patients) while offering automatic subscription renewals and refills.

Our take: RxPass is limited in terms of the medications it offers, but these study findings demonstrate the program’s value to both Amazon and its pharmacy customers.

Retail pharmacy incumbents are constantly looking for ways to improve medication adherence among their customers. Adopting a subscription model like RxPass could be worth exploring, especially as these legacy players deal with operational headwinds that may result in lost market share to pharmacy upstarts like Amazon.

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