• Mail delays may affect medication supply

    From ScienceDaily@1337:3/111 to All on Mon Aug 24 21:30:32 2020
    Mail delays may affect medication supply for nearlyin 4 Americans
    over 50
    Data from National Poll on Healthy Aging show reliance on delivery of medications, often because of insurance requirements

    Date:
    August 24, 2020
    Source:
    Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan
    Summary:
    The timeliness of mail delivery may affect access to medication
    for many middle-aged and older adults, according to a new analysis
    of data from a national poll of people aged 50 to 80. Nearly
    one in four people in this age group said they receive at least
    one medication by mail, but that percentage rises to 29 percent
    when the poll results are limited to people who take at least one
    prescription medication.



    FULL STORY ==========================================================================
    The timeliness of mail delivery may affect access to medication for many middle-aged and older adults, according to a new analysis of data from
    a national poll of people aged 50 to 80.


    ========================================================================== Nearly one in four people in this age group said they receive at least
    one medication by mail, but that percentage rises to 29% when the
    poll results are limited to people who take at least one prescription medication. Nearly 17% of people in this group say they receive all
    their medications via mail.

    In addition, 35% of those who receive medications by mail said that
    their insurance requires them to do so.

    The data on the use of mail delivery for medications come from a poll
    taken in 2017 as part of the ongoing National Poll on Healthy Aging,
    but not previously published in poll reports. The poll did not ask if
    the mail delivery was through the United States Postal Service or a
    private package delivery service.

    While deliveries of all kinds have been delayed during the months
    of the COVID- 19 pandemic, USPS delays have been in the spotlight in
    recent weeks.

    Congressional hearings on this topic are now under way.

    The National Poll on Healthy Aging is conducted by the University of
    Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, and sponsored
    by AARP and Michigan Medicine, U-M's academic medical center.



    ==========================================================================
    In addition to those who said their insurance required mail delivery, 53%
    said the delivery option saved money, and 42% cited convenience. Nearly
    30% said they chose to use the mail for medications that they took
    on a long-term basis and didn't need to discuss with a pharmacy team
    member. And nearly 29% said their doctor's office automatically sent
    their prescriptions to a company that sends medications by mail.

    As part of a 2017 poll on drug interactions, the IHPI team asked a
    national sample of 2,131 older adults about their medication use and
    source, and focused on the answers of the 76% who said they took at
    least one prescription medication.

    The poll asked respondents about the reasons why they used mail delivery
    for at least one drug. Respondents could give more than one reason.

    The raw data from the poll are available for anyone to access
    through the University of Michigan National Archive of Computerized
    Data on Aging. The data from the poll that asked about how people
    receive their medications are part of the data set located at https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/NACDA/studies/37305/ versions/V1 ,
    along with information on how to cite the poll.

    Poll data pertinent to COVID-19 The National Poll on Healthy Aging team recently published the first report on data from a poll taken in June
    2020, allowing them to see how older adults are being affected by the
    COVID-19 pandemic.

    The first report, on use of telehealth, is available at https:// www.healthyagingpoll.org/report/telehealth-use-among-older-adults-and-during- covid-19 In addition, the poll team compiled other data from
    pre-COVID-19 polls that might be useful in understanding
    how people over 50 might be affected by the pandemic: https://ihpi.umich.edu/news/impact-social-distancing-older-adults- past-findings-national-poll-offer-insights

    ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
    Michigan_Medicine_-_University_of_Michigan. Note: Content may be edited
    for style and length.


    ==========================================================================


    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200824105544.htm

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