Navitus Asthma Management Program Gains National Attention for Delivering Health Improvement Outcome

MADISON, Wis., July 7, 2015– Navitus Health Solutions, LLC, a pharmacy benefit manager committed to improving population health, offers an Asthma Management Program that boasts positive health improvement outcomes for a highly prevalent, economically burdensome chronic condition. The program has secured national attention through awards, conference recognition and a recent peer reviewed publication.

In order to achieve its goal of improving member health at the lowest net cost, Navitus designs and implements evidence-based population health management programs. Ultimately, Navitus is in constant pursuit of translating science into practice to impact population health. The Asthma Management Program accomplishes this goal by using clinical algorithms to identify members with uncontrolled asthma and by providing actionable information to these members and their prescribers. The program seeks to ensure these members receive and properly use the correct medications.

For the Asthma Management Program, Navitus chose Asthma Medication Ratio (AMR) as the measurement for uncontrolled asthma, because ample support exists for its use as a quality of care indicator. When using pharmacy claims data for analyses, coupling the number of Short Acting Beta Agonist (SABA) prescriptions with AMR appears to be the most evidence-based method for identifying potentially uncontrolled asthmatic patients. Use of AMR also became a Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measure in 2013. In 2010 (prior to the HEDIS measure), Navitus designed the program as an in-house application for member identification and outcome measurement.

In 2014, Navitus’ Asthma Management Program delivered 30-35 percent improvement in AMR to > 0.5 for clients participating in the program.

In May 2014, Clinical Scholars Review, a peer-reviewed journal, published an article written by Navitus titled “Outcome Evaluation of a Pharmacy Benefits Management based Asthma Management Program.” This article showed that a nurse-led PBM asthma management program of mailed educational interventions was effective in improving members’ AMRs. Specifically, the outcome evaluation project demonstrated statistically significant improvement in AMR and reduction in SABA claims at 12 months in the intervention group.

These encouraging outcomes have paved the way for Navitus receiving attention through poster and podium presentations at national conferences. In 2013, Navitus exhibited an outcome evaluation poster about the program at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) conference. The following year AMCP selected the program for a podium presentation and a platinum medal abstract. In 2015, Navitus presented a poster about the program at the Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute (PBMI) conference.

Navitus was also a finalist in the Disease Management/Population Health category for the Dorland Health Case-in-Point Platinum Award.