Understanding Polypharmacy

In a video interview with Pharma Commerce, Tom Dorsett, CEO, RazorMetrics, describes how polypharmacy refers to the use of five or more medications by an individual, and it is becoming an increasingly prominent issue in the United States. Polypharmacy has been recognized for years but is growing more significant, especially within Medicaid, Medicare, and large commercial sectors, including self-funded employers.

One of the key drivers of this rise is the growing number of chronic conditions, which affect a large portion of the adult population. Around 40% of adults in the US have four or more chronic diseases, contributing to the increase in polypharmacy. Furthermore, among the working adult population between 40 and 79 years old, 24% are impacted by polypharmacy, a trend that continues to grow. This issue highlights the complexity and challenges of managing multiple health conditions and medications in an aging population, leading to potential risks related to drug interactions and overall healthcare management.

Dorsett also explains why he believes this concept is such an overlooked driver of unnecessary spending and adverse health outcomes, strategies that should be taken to overcome health information exchange blockages, and much more.

A transcript of his conversation with PC can be found below.

PC: How would you describe the concept of polypharmacy, and how prominent is it in the US today?

Dorsett: It's a huge issue, and only getting bigger as time goes by. It's been around for many years as an acknowledged issue, but it's really becoming more prominent, especially with what we see with our clients in Medicaid and Medicare, as well as large commercial organizations and self-funded employers.

Effectively, it's any individual that's on five drugs or more. That's how the CDC categorizes it. And what we've also seen is a significant rise in chronic conditions in the adult population generally. Across the board, 40% of the adult population has four or more chronic diseases, which is huge. In terms of polypharmacy, in what you might categorize as the older working population—between 40 years old and 79 years old—we see 24% of them being polypharmacy, so there's no shortage of it out there, and those stats continue to grow.