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

--- up 6 hours, 50 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1337:3/111)