The research, published Jan. 27 in JAMA Health Forum, was conducted by examining a cohort of 5,003 enrollees and 5,137 controls before and after enrollment and assessed the effects of Amazon Pharmacy’s prescription service program, which provides access to 60 common generic medications for a $5 monthly fee.
Three key findings:
- Subscription enrollment was linked to a 27% increase in medication days’ supply, with an average of 10.39 more days of medication per person per year.
- Prescription refills increased by 29%, adding an extra 0.19 refills per month.
- Participants saw a 30% reduction in out-of-pocket costs, saving an average of $2.35 per person each month.
The study also suggested that subscription models such as Amazon’s RxPass, launched in January 2023, could help address the problem of medication nonadherence. Nonadherence, which affects nearly half of patients in the U.S., is linked to increased health complications and $100 billion in annual healthcare costs.
