CRO inVentiv Health has acquired Catalina Health, a subsidiary of Catalina Marketing, and combined the organization with Adheris, an inVentiv Health company.

With this acquisition, inVentiv Health’s Adheris becomes the nation’s largest provider of tailored, direct-to-patient medication adherence programs. Medication adherence programs, which include refill reminders and disease education, help millions of chronically ill people stay on their doctor-prescribed treatment, saving the healthcare system money and improving patient outcomes.

Both Adheris and Catalina Health work through pharmacies across the country to deliver adherence communications to millions of people. Adheris now has an unmatched reach through a network of more than 40 pharmacy partners composed of 30,000 pharmacies representing 65% of all retail prescriptions. Adheris continues to rapidly grow its physician office network as a complement to its pharmacy network, allowing the company to reach even more patients with personalized communications across the continuum of care.

“Improving patient outcomes is our number one priority,” said Mark Dmytruk, president, inVentiv Health patient outcomes. “A coordinated adherence approach—reaching individual patients across multiple touch points with customized messages based on predictive analytics—improves adherence in ways other organizations simply cannot match.” 

Adheris’ enhanced services will allow patients to receive communications in the doctor’s office from their healthcare provider, followed by face-to-face communication with their pharmacist. Later, when it is time to refill their prescription, Adheris can send patients a message from their pharmacy reminding them of the importance of staying on the medication their doctor has prescribed. Communications can be delivered through multiple channels, including mobile.

By combining its experience in predictive analytics with Catalina Health, Adheris will offer even stronger and more effective messaging based on a more robust understanding of consumer preferences and needs. The acquisition also allows Adheris to provide clients with a single vendor for the purchase of multiple services, further streamlining the delivery of effective adherence communications.

Adherence programs have demonstrated value in improving individual health and saving the healthcare system money. At a time when federal, state and private healthcare programs are seeking ways to reduce costs and improve care, adherence programs are increasingly important and further the goals of the Affordable Care Act.

“Over the past year, we’ve seen growing client demand for coordinated patient messaging and an increased focus on patient-centric outcome strategies,” said Dmytruk. 

Renee Selman, president of Catalina Health, will lead the combined business. Previously, Selman worked in various leadership positions with Johnson & Johnson, including worldwide president of Ethicon Women's Health and Urology. Jim Rotsart will move from general manager/executive vice president of Adheris to become executive vice president of inVentiv Health patient outcomes.

Catalina Health will now operate under the Adheris name.