HumanisRx launches MedMonitor, the game changer that helps reduce millions in health benefit and disability insurance costs

MARKHAM, ON, Oct. 16, 2019 /CNW/ - Canadian employees are at high risk of medication related problems, leading to serious health risks, increased absenteeism in the workplace and high disability costs for employers, according to new research.

HumanisRx today released the White Paper, A Progressive Approach to Plan Member Health: Predicting the Value of Proactively Resolving Medication Risks in Canadian Workplaces. It finds that medication related issues – such as incompatible or duplicate medications, higher than recommended doses, sub-optimal therapy or failing to take medication as prescribed – is negatively impacting employees' health, causing them to take extended leaves from their jobs. Ultimately, this leads to high benefit and disability costs for employers.

"Our research finds that employees are not optimizing their use of prescription medications – and that's a huge cost driver for Canadian employers and insurance companies," said Jeff May, President of HumanisRx. "But this trend can be reversed through our MedMonitor program and state-of-the-art software, which analyzes drug claim data and initiates pharmacist-led interventions with employees and their healthcare providers."

HumanisRx, in collaboration with Munich Re, GroupHEALTH Benefit Solutions, and Disability Management Institute, recently conducted a retrospective study which examined drug claim data. The study found: 

• Alerts were generated by one in every four plan members using medications, indicating at least one identified drug therapy problem that may have been related to a safety risk, sub-optimal therapy, or failing to take the drug as prescribed. 
• Almost 60% of the drug therapy problems identified were due to safety, meaning the plan member was at risk of an adverse outcome.

"Based on the outcomes observed in the retrospective study, we believe that there is value to insurers and plan sponsors adopting a proactive medication optimization strategy for their disability management or health and wellness programs," said Mark Foerster, Vice President Group Operations and Claims at Munich Re.

A valuation model developed by Munich Re estimates that the value of long-term disability savings from proactively identifying medication risks could potentially be up to $2.7 million for a population of 200,000 plan members if all assumptions materialize. A similar model developed by HumanisRx predicts annual short-term disability savings of $3 million for 200,000 plan members, for a total annual disability savings of $5.7 million.

Employers and insurers can reduce absence and disability costs through the implementation of HumanisRx's proactive medication optimization program called MedMonitor. Using a sophisticated set of hundreds of clinical algorithms, HumanisRx's RxCompanionä software identifies employee medication risks, triages them, and initiates an intervention with a HumanisRx pharmacist. The pharmacist then works with the employee and their healthcare providers to resolve the medication related issues and reduce health risks. Improved employee well-being results in decreased workplace absences, less need to hire replacement staff, and lower disability costs. 

"Through careful monitoring and analysis of plan members' medication patterns, MedMonitor has the potential to prevent medication risks, lower presenteeism and absenteeism, and offer employers dramatic benefits and disability cost savings," said May.

About HumanisRx
HumanisRx, a division of Remedy Holdings Inc., helps Canadians with complex or unique needs get the best results from their medications. Its team of licensed pharmacists consults with plan members and their healthcare providers, offering recommendations to improve their experience with medications.

To download your copy of the White Paper, click here or contact HumanisRx.

SOURCE HumanisRx