Background

• Multiple sclerosis is a neurodegenerative disorder that results in the destruction of the myelin sheath in the central nervous system due to an inflammatory immune response. There is currently no cure, and in the absence of treatment to slow progression, this disease can lead to loss of mobility, bladder dysfunction, sensory issues, fatigue, and other debilitating symptoms.
• Because multiple sclerosis causes a decline in health over time, it is critical that patients seek early treatment for this disease and that therapy is consistently provided in order to prevent the disease from worsening and from decreasing the patient’s quality of life.
• Due to barriers such as high medication costs, limited distribution drug networks, and prior authorizations, time to medication access for patients with multiple sclerosis can be prolonged and results in reduced patient outcomes.
• Additionally, adherence rates, shown through proportion of days covered (PDC), are usually suboptimal for disease-modifying agents treating multiple sclerosis.
• In previous studies, integrating a clinical pharmacist into the health system interdisciplinary team has been shown to reduce time to medication access and improve patient compliance in specialty disease states, including multiple sclerosis.

Objectives

This study evaluated script-to-mouth time for disease modifying therapies (DMTs) used to treat MS and the rates of adherence for patients whose prescriptions were filled with an Integrated HSSP compared to those whose prescriptions were filled at external pharmacies not affiliated with the health systems.

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