Benjamin Taylor

Adherence to High-Intensity Statins Following a Myocardial Infarction Hospitalization Among Medicare Beneficiaries

Importance High-intensity statins are recommended following myocardial infarction. However, patients may not continue taking this medication with high adherence. Objective To estimate the proportion of patients filling high-intensity statin prescriptions following myocardial infarction who continue taking this medication with high adherence and to analyze factors associated with continuing a high-intensity statin with high adherence after myocardial infarction. Design, Setting, and Participants Retrospective cohort study of Medicare patients following hospitalization for myocardial infarction. Medicare beneficiaries aged 66 to 75 years (n = 29 932) and older than 75 years (n = 27 956) hospitalized for myocardial infarction between 2007 and 2012 who filled a high-intensity statin prescription (atorvastatin, 40-80 mg, and rosuvastatin, 20-40 mg) within 30 days of discharge. Beneficiaries had Medicare fee-for-service coverage including pharmacy benefits. Exposures Sociodemographic, dual Medicare/Medicaid coverage, comorbidities, not filling high-intensity statin prescriptions before their myocardial infarction (ie, new users), and cardiac rehabilitation and outpatient cardiologist visits after discharge. Main Outcomes and Measures High adherence to high-intensity statins at 6 months and 2 years after discharge was defined by a proportion of days covered of at least 80%, down-titration was defined by switching to a low/moderate-intensity statin with a proportion of days covered of at least 80%, and low adherence was defined by a proportion of days covered less than 80% for any statin intensity without discontinuation. Discontinuation was defined by not having a statin available to take in the last 60 days of each follow-up period. Results Approximately half of the beneficiaries were women and fourth-fifths were white. At 6 months and 2 years after discharge among beneficiaries 66 to 75 years of age, 17 633 (58.9%) and 10 308 (41.6%) were taking high-intensity statins with high adherence, 2605 (8.7%) and 3315 (13.4%) down-titrated, 5182 (17.3%) and 4727 (19.1%) had low adherence, and 3705 (12.4%) and 4648 (18.8%) discontinued their statin, respectively. The proportion taking high-intensity statins with high adherence increased between 2007 and 2012. African American patients, Hispanic patients, and new high-intensity statin users were less likely to take high-intensity statins with high adherence, and those with dual Medicare/Medicaid coverage and more cardiologist visits after discharge and who participated in cardiac rehabilitation were more likely to take high-intensity statins with high adherence. Results were similar among beneficiaries older than 75 years of age. Conclusions and Relevance Many patients filling high-intensity statins following a myocardial infarction do not continue taking this medication with high adherence for 2 years postdischarge. Interventions are needed to increase high-intensity statin use and adherence after myocardial infarction.

Association of Prior Authorization and Out-of-pocket Costs With Patient Access to PCSK9 Inhibitor Therapy

Importance Although PCSK9 inhibitors (PCSK9i) were approved in 2015, their high cost has led to strict prior authorization practices and high copays, and use of PSCK9i in clinical practice has been low. Objective To evaluate patient access to PCSK9i among those prescribed therapy. Design, Setting, and Participants Using pharmacy transaction data, we evaluated 45 029 patients who were newly prescribed PCSK9i in the United States between August 1, 2015, and July 31, 2016. Main Outcomes and Measures The proportion of PCSK9i prescriptions approved and abandoned (approved but unfilled); multivariable analyses examined factors associated with approval/abandonment including payor, prescriber specialty, pharmacy benefit manager, out-of-pocket cost (copay), clinical diagnoses, lipid-lowering medication use, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. Results Of patients given an incident PCSK9i prescription, 51.2% were women, 56.6% were 65 years or older, and 52.5% had governmental insurance. Of the patients given a prescription, 20.8% received approval on the first day, and 47.2% ever received approval. Of those approved, 65.3% filled the prescription, resulting in 30.9% of those prescribed PCSK9i ever receiving therapy. After adjustment, patients who were older, male, and had atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease were more likely to be approved, but approval rates did not vary by patient low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level nor statin use. Other factors associated with drug approval included having government vs commercial insurance (odds ratio [OR], 3.3; 95% CI, 2.8-3.8), and those filled at a specialty vs retail pharmacy (OR, 1.96; 95% CI, 1.66-2.33). Approval rates varied nearly 3-fold among the top 10 largest pharmacy benefit managers. Prescription abandonment by patients was most associated with copay costs (C statistic, 0.86); with abandonment rates ranging from 7.5% for those with

Primary Care Physician Perspectives on Barriers to Statin Treatment.

0 copay to more than 75% for copays greater than

Risk of mortality and recurrent cardiovascular events in patients with acute coronary syndromes on high intensity statin treatment

350. Conclusions and Relevance In the first year of availability, only half of patients prescribed a PCSK9i received approval, and one-third of approved prescriptions were never filled owing to copay.

Healthcare Utilization and Statin Re‐Initiation Among Medicare Beneficiaries With a History of Myocardial Infarction

PurposeDiscontinuation of statin therapy represents a major challenge for effective cardiovascular disease prevention. It is unclear how often primary care physicians (PCPs) re-initiate statins and what barriers they encounter. We aimed to identify PCP perspectives on factors influencing statin re-initiation.MethodsWe conducted six nominal group discussions with 23 PCPs from the Deep South Continuing Medical Education network. PCPs answered questions about statin side effects, reasons their patients reported for discontinuing statins, how they respond when discontinuation is reported, and barriers they encounter in getting their patients to re-initiate statin therapy. Each group generated a list of responses in round-robin fashion. Then, each PCP independently ranked their top three responses to each question. For each PCP, the most important reason was given a weight of 3 votes, and the second and third most important reasons were given weights of 2 and 1, respectively. We categorized the individual responses into themes and determined the relative importance of each theme using a “percent of available votes” metric.ResultsPCPs reported that side effects, especially muscle/joint-related symptoms, were the most common reason patients reported for statin discontinuation (47% of available votes). PCPs reported statin re-challenge as their most common response when a patient discontinues statin use (31% of available votes). Patients’ fear of side effects was ranked as the biggest challenge PCPs encounter in getting their patients to re-initiate statin therapy (70% of available votes).ConclusionPCPs face challenges getting their patients to re-initiate statins, particularly after a patient reports side effects.

LONG-TERM STATIN USE FOLLOWING RE-INITIATION AMONG MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES WITH CORONARY HEART DISEASE

Several randomized controlled trials have shown a benefit of high-dose intensive statin treatment in reducing risk of death and second cardiovascular disease (CVD) events in patients previously diagnosed with an acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Non-randomized studies in clinical settings support these findings, but large, long-term, observational studies addressing CVD and non-CVD endpoints are lacking. In this retrospective longitudinal study, we followed ACS patients in Sweden during 2001–2012 using national health registry and medical record data. A total of 49,857 patients were identified, of whom 10,092 (20.2%) received high dose statins and 21,174 (42.7%) received no statins. Royston-Parmar parametric time-to-event models were implemented to model hazard for second CVD events and death, stratified by gender and diabetes diagnosis. We found that risk of a second CVD event developed similarly in both treatment groups, but was much higher in the no statin group. Risk of CVD-related death remained relatively constant for the high-statin group, while it increased over time for the no-statin group. Interestingly, males had higher mortality rates in the no-statin group, but not in the high-statin group. All-cause mortality and non-CVD-related death followed similar trends to those observed for CVD-related death. This work provides additional real-world evidence for effect of statins in CVD-related mortality. The hazard functions presented here can provide a basis for future survival modeling and health economic evaluation.

Avoiding Overestimation In Annualization of Event Risk from Risk Functions for use in Economic Modeling

Background Contact with the healthcare system represents an opportunity for individuals who discontinue statins to re‐initiate treatment. To help identify opportunities for healthcare providers to emphasize the risk‐lowering benefits accrued through restarting statins, we determined the types of healthcare utilization associated with statin re‐initiation among patients with history of a myocardial infarction. Methods and Results Medicare beneficiaries with a statin pharmacy fill claim within 30 days of hospital discharge for a myocardial infarction in 2007 to 2012 (n=158 795) were followed for 182 days postdischarge to identify treatment discontinuation, defined as 60 continuous days without statins (n=24 461). Re‐initiation was defined as a statin fill within 365 days of the discontinuation date (n=13 136). Using a case‐crossover study design and each beneficiary as their own control, healthcare utilization during 0 to 14 days before statin re‐initiation (case period) was compared with healthcare utilization 30 to 44 days before statin re‐initiation (control period). The mean age of beneficiaries was 75.4 years; 52.8% were women and 81.9% were white. For routine healthcare utilization, the odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for statin re‐initiation associated with lipid panel testing was 2.65 (1.93–3.65), outpatient primary care was 1.31 (1.23–1.40), and outpatient cardiologist care was 1.38 (1.28–1.50). For acute healthcare utilization, the odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for statin re‐initiation associated with emergency department visits was 1.77 (1.31–2.40), coronary heart disease (CHD) hospitalizations was 3.16 (2.41–4.14) and non–coronary heart disease hospitalizations was 1.73 (1.49–2.01). Conclusions The weaker association of routine versus acute healthcare utilization with statin re‐initiation suggests missed opportunities to reinforce the importance of statin therapy for secondary prevention.

Abstract 15687: Reasons for Statin Discontinuation With and Without a Physician’s Advice: Data From the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) Study

The benefits of statin use after a myocardial infarction (MI) hospitalization accrue over time. Discontinuing statins in the year following initiation is common. We determined the percentage of Medicare beneficiaries who re-initiate statins and had high statin persistence following re-initiation.