The ScriptPath label and schedule.
Medication adherence can be a challenge, particularly for patients with chronic illnesses that require multiple prescriptions, each with their own dosage time, frequency and amount. To help improve adherence, CVS Health has created the ScriptPath prescription management system, a set of tools that includes a customized schedule and bottle label designed to make it easier for patients to navigate their prescription schedule.
How ScriptPath Works
The ScriptPath prescription management system utilizes a robust scientific system to automatically review all of a patient's CVS Pharmacy medications and prescribers' instructions. That information is then used to generate a ScriptPath Prescription Schedule, which provides a complete picture of a patient’s current CVS Pharmacy prescription information, including dosage information, all in one place.
Patients who request a ScriptPath Prescription Schedule are offered a consultation with a store pharmacist when they pick up their medications.
More recently, CVS Health introduced the ScriptPath Prescription Label and Prescription Overview. With features like clearer directions, larger text and color-coded icons, the label and overview, like the schedule, were created to increase a patient’s ability to understand their prescription and dosing information, as well make reordering easier.
Designed by Deborah Adler, owner of Adler Design, the ScriptPath system recently earned a Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute Excellence Award.
Each element of the ScriptPath prescription management system is available in English and Spanish at all of CVS Pharmacy’s more than 9,700 retail pharmacy locations nationwide.
The importance of medication adherence
The average American adult fills between nine and twenty prescriptions per year.Michael S. Wolf et al. “Helping Patients Simplify and Safely Use Complex Prescription Regimens.” Archives of Internal Medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21357804 At the same time, medication adherence falls by 5.7 percent to 6.8 percent with each dose added to a medication regimen.Craig I. Coleman et al. “Dosing Frequency and Medication Adherence in Chronic Disease.” Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy. September 2012. https://www.jmcp.org/doi/abs/10.18553/jmcp.2012.18.7.527
When patients with chronic conditions do not keep up with medications, it makes adverse health events more likely. For instance, a patient who fails to take blood pressure medication as prescribed will be at higher risk for more serious conditions, like a stroke or heart failure. These instances can add up and put significant strain on the health care system.
“Fifty percent of patients struggle with understanding how and when to take their prescription medications, and for those with complex prescription regimens it can be even more challenging,” said Troyen Brennan, M.D., M.P.H., Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, CVS Health. “By providing them with a clear and concise dosing schedule, which incorporates all of their current CVS Pharmacy prescriptions and reduces the number of times a patient takes medication each day, we can help improve medication adherence and, ultimately, health outcomes.”
The ScriptPath system is designed to improve patient understanding and safety, help simplify how patients take their medications, and, ultimately, increase medication adherence. It’s one more way CVS Health is helping patients on their path to better health.