3 Medicare star rating measures support importance of statin therapy for patients with cardiovascular disease and diabetes

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued two new star rating measures to support the importance of statin therapy for patients with cardiovascular disease and diabetes. There’s also an existing medication adherence measure that plays a key role in the effectiveness of statin treatment.

Here’s an overview of the three measures:

Statin therapy for patients with cardiovascular disease
This new measure assesses the percentage of men ages 21 to 75 and women ages 40 to 75 who were identified as having clinical atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and met the following criteria:

• Received statin therapy: Patients were dispensed at least one high or moderate-intensity statin medication in the measurement year.

Statin use in persons with diabetes
This new measure assesses the percentage of people ages 40-75 with diabetes who met the following criteria:

• Received statin therapy: Patients were dispensed at least one statin medication of any intensity during the measurement year.

Medication adherence for cholesterol (statins)
This measure assesses the percentage of people age 18 and older who met the following criteria:

• Were dispensed at least two fills of a statin medication and filled the medication for at least 80 percent of the treatment period.

Following is a look at why statin therapy is beneficial for people with cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. More than 85 million American adults have one or more types of cardiovascular disease. It’s estimated that by 2030, more than 43 percent of Americans will have a form of cardiovascular disease.

According to the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association, statins of moderate or high intensity are recommended for adults with established clinical atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Many studies support the use of statins to reduce atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease events in primary or secondary prevention.

Diabetes
Prevention of cardiovascular disease is an important aspect of diabetes management. The risk of an adult with diabetes developing cardiovascular disease is two to four times higher than for adults without diabetes.

In addition to being at a higher risk for developing cardiovascular disease, patients with diabetes tend to have a worse survival rate after the onset of cardiovascular disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that adults with diabetes are 1.7 times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than adults without diabetes.

Consider prescribing statins not only for your patients with hypercholesterolemia, but also for patients diagnosed with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease or diabetes.