PioneerRx’s pharmacy software enables independent pharmacies to proactively monitor their patients’ adherence numbers.

One of these measures is Proportion of Days covered, or PDC, which is ideal for maintaining PQA and 5-Star measures. PDC is calculated based on the number of days supply a drug is dispensed for, divided by the number of days the prescription is in the patient’s possession.

For example, a 30-day supply of a drug refilled after 35 days (30÷35) yields a PDC Score of 85%.

Ruston Taylor is the Senior Director of Pharmacy at Legacy Community Health Services in Houston, TX, the only federally qualified health center in the state.

The in-house pharmacy dispenses around 15,000 prescriptions each month, and a large number of those are related to HIV.

“One of the things about these patients is that it’s really important for them to be maintained on their medications. The only way we’ll end the HIV epidemic is if we keep the greatest number possible undetectable. That’s why we strive to know which patients are or are not coming for their medications so we can pinpoint them in the software and address the issue,” Ruston explains.

“The PDC Scores are utilized not only for HIV, but for other chronic disease states, as well. HIV patients are at a high risk for other comorbid disease states like diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia. We’re using PDC scores and many other tools in PioneerRx’s pharmacy technology to meet HIV and these other diagnoses head on.”