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Surescripts
Identify medication abandonment early
Give care teams the visibility they need to keep patients on track from the start. Surescripts First-Fill Abandonment proactively monitors new prescriptions sent across the Surescripts network and flags when patients don’t pick them up.
Care teams get the data they need, delivered at the frequency they select, to inform patient outreach, optimize adherence initiatives and improve patient outcomes.
27%
of new prescriptions are not filled due to payer rejections and abandonment by patients1
98 million
new prescriptions were abandoned by patients at pharmacies in 20232
More than half
of patients said they had not taken a medication because it was too expensive3
What can First-Fill Abandonment do for you?
See how First-Fill Abandonment can help you identify abandonment early, enabling timely interventions and helping address big-picture adherence patterns.
Give your customers an edge on adherence outreach
Deliver better care coordination workflows for your customers. First-Fill Abandonment identifies when patients don’t pick up their new prescriptions and delivers the information directly to your customers at their chosen frequency.
Improve patient outcomes
Prevent nonadherence before it begins, which can otherwise lead to increased chronic care costs, emergency room visits and readmissions.4,5
Identify and solve access barriers
Give care teams the ability to address access barriers early, such as cost, prior authorization issues, forgetfulness, side effects or gaps in patient education.
Uplift STARS and HEDIS measures
Increase performance for adherence measures tied to HEDIS and CMS Star Ratings.
How it works for EHR vendors
Incorporate First-Fill Abandonment data into your system.
We customize the data with users’ abandonment definitions, abandonment thresholds and desired delivery cadences.
A prescriber uses your EHR to write and send a new prescription for their patient.
Surescripts E-Prescribing sends the prescription to the patient’s chosen pharmacy.
When the patient doesn’t pick it up, First-Fill Abandonment lets their care team know.
We monitor new prescriptions to spot abandonment and deliver these insights to care teams at their chosen frequency.
The patient’s care coordinator can call them and get their care plan back on track.
First-Fill Abandonment data helps care teams identify and resolve issues such as cost, coverage or pharmacy access.
Gain the power and precision to improve medication adherence
Identify and address medication abandonment early. Inform patient outreach with patient-specific abandonment data and optimize adherence initiatives with data trends across clinics, prescribers and medications.
Improve patient outcomes
Prevent nonadherence before it begins, which can otherwise lead to increased chronic care costs, emergency room visits and readmissions.6,7
Identify and solve access barriers
Give care teams the ability to address access barriers early, such as cost, prior authorization issues, forgetfulness, side effects or gaps in patient education.
Uplift STARS and HEDIS measures
Increase performance for adherence measures tied to HEDIS and CMS Star Ratings.
Improve big-picture adherence patterns
Use aggregated data across clinics, providers and medications to identify patterns and create targeted care coordination efforts.
How it works for health systems
Incorporate First-Fill Abandonment data into your workflow.
We customize the data with your organization’s abandonment definition, threshold and desired delivery cadence.
One of your prescribers writes a new prescription for their patient.
Surescripts E-Prescribing sends the prescription to the patient’s chosen pharmacy.
When the patient doesn’t pick it up, First-Fill Abandonment lets their care team know.
We monitor new prescriptions to spot abandonment and deliver these insights at your chosen frequency.
One of your care coordinators can call the patient and get their care plan back on track.
First-Fill Abandonment data helps care teams identify and resolve issues such as cost, coverage or pharmacy access.
Give your customers an edge on adherence outreach
Deliver better care coordination workflows for your customers. First-Fill Abandonment identifies when patients don’t pick up their new prescriptions and delivers the information directly to your customers at their chosen frequency.
Improve patient outcomes
Prevent nonadherence before it begins, which can otherwise lead to increased chronic care costs, emergency room visits and readmissions.8,9
Identify and solve access barriers
Give care teams the ability to address access barriers early, such as cost, prior authorization issues, forgetfulness, side effects or gaps in patient education.
Uplift STARS and HEDIS measures
Increase performance for adherence measures tied to HEDIS and CMS Star Ratings
How it works for healthcare analytics vendors
Incorporate First-Fill Abandonment data into your system.
We customize the data with users’ abandonment definitions, abandonment thresholds and desired delivery cadences.
A prescriber writes a new prescription for their patient.
Surescripts E-Prescribing sends the prescription to the patient’s chosen pharmacy.
When the patient doesn’t pick it up, First-Fill Abandonment flags the abandonment.
We monitor new prescriptions to spot abandonment and deliver these insights on their set schedule.
The prompt, accurate patient abandonment data powers early intervention.
First-Fill Abandonment makes it simpler to identify and resolve issues such as cost, coverage or pharmacy access.
Optimize adherence initiatives
Access abandonment data across prescribers, clinics and medications to identify patterns and tailor strategies based on your organization’s abandonment trends.
Identify abandonment trends
See if certain prescribers, clinics or medications are associated with higher abandonment rates.
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Create targeted care coordination efforts
Plan initiatives based on your trends, such as educating prescribers to choose more affordable medications or empowering care coordinators to perform earlier outreach at certain clinics.
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Evaluate, refine and scale your tactics
Stay informed with a 12-month look-back period and continuous monitoring of abandonment trends. Determine if your initiatives are successful and readjust as needed.
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Find out more about First-Fill Abandonment
How is this different from other adherence data solutions?
Other solutions rely on outdated claims data, which have limited insight into unfilled prescriptions and offer less time to intervene.
Surescripts First-Fill Abandonment is the only data product on the market that proactively identifies when new prescriptions are abandoned.
What kind of information will we gain with First-Fill Abandonment?
Patient-specific data includes information on the patient, provider, medication, dose, route of administration, date written and days unfilled.
Abandonment trend data compares abandonment rates across clinics, prescribers and medications.
How often will my organization receive the data?
We’ll work with you to set up a daily or weekly cadence of your choosing.
Keep pace with healthcare innovation
- IQVIA Institute, “Understanding the Use of Medicines in the U.S. 2025,” April 2025.
- IQVIA Institute, “The Use of Medicines in the U.S. 2024,” April 2024.
- Surescripts, “Prescription Price Transparency and the Patient Experience,” February 2020.
- Cutler et al., “Economic impact of medication non-adherence by disease groups: a systematic review,” 2018.
- Rosen et al., “Medication adherence as a predictor of 30-day hospital readmissions,” April 2017.
- Cutler et al., “Economic impact of medication non-adherence by disease groups: a systematic review,” 2018.
- Rosen et al., “Medication adherence as a predictor of 30-day hospital readmissions,” April 2017.
- Cutler et al., “Economic impact of medication non-adherence by disease groups: a systematic review,” 2018.
- Rosen et al., “Medication adherence as a predictor of 30-day hospital readmissions,” April 2017.
Connect with our team to explore how we can partner to increase patient safety, reduce costs and ensure quality care.
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