As the political and public healthcare debate rages, changes are already underway concerning how and where patients are treated.
Services are moving well beyond traditional hospitals, clinics, and physician offices. The AARP/Walgreens Wellness Tour, for example, aims to deliver more than 2.5 million free health screenings for early detection and prevention of diseases, especially in underserved areas in the U.S.
Walgreens cited a recent study that showed that medication adherence rates were nearly 10% higher in patients who use integrated workplace primary care and pharmacy services.
For shut-in patients, healthcare options are ever expanding. Diabetics can now test their all-important A1C level at home to gain a two-to-three-month blood sugar assessment in a mere five minutes with Bayer’s A1CNow self-check system. More evidence of the growing home healthcare market came from a recent CNN.com story that reported on Dr. Eric DeJonge’s use of a black bag and Blackberry in serving his Medical House Call Program’s 600 patients in suburban Washington.
Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. are trying to switch some drugs from Rx to OTC. Typically profits soar with a switch, so a lot is at stake. However, when looking at alternatives such as Behind-the-Counter (no prescription but mandated interaction with pharmacists), even the Government Accountability Office foresees problems with patient privacy, pharmacist compensation, and insurance issues.
The times they are a changing for healthcare options, with treatment technologies and better understanding of the human genome advancing us closer to personalized medicine. The quickening pace of medical technology, coupled with pharmaceutical consolidation and staff reductions, make me wonder how packaging will keep pace.
