Compliance Packaging

Hospital readmissions within 30 days of discharge cost the Medicare program approximately $15 billion, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. Laura Cranston, RPh, Executive Director, Pharmacy Quality Alliance Inc. (PQA) shares that the largest component of those costs are due to some medication-related adverse drug event, she explains. The priority of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is to reduce these costs, and effective medication reconciliation and ensuring appropriate care transitions can play a major role.

Human behavior has been all but ignored as the root cause for the failure of healthcare adherence, argues John Bitner, a design engineer who has studied human interaction with packaging for decades. “People are adverse to change,” he says. “Even when faced with a very bad disease, and they know a lifestyle change is essential to survival, for whatever reason, they cannot.”

Keystone Folding Box Co. (www.keyboxco.com), a manufacturer of paperboard packaging, has introduced Ecoslide-RX, a compliance package made from 100% recyclable material. Using unbleached paperboard with a clay-coated surface, Ecoslide-RX was developed to support blister packages employing a minimal amount of film and foil, explains Ward Smith, director of marketing for Keystone. The secondary package can be used for a child-resistant (F=1), senior-friendly compliance solution.