Map Details – Drive Times to Community Pharmacies and Blood Pressure Medication Adherence Among Adults 18 and Older, by Vermont Town, 2014–2016

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Impact Statement

Control of hypertension is an important public health issue. There are a number of barriers that may prevent people from adhering to their blood pressure medication regimens, one being physical access to community pharmacies. Almost 3 in 10 towns (27%) had a low proportion of residents adherent to their blood pressure medication regimens that had limited access to community pharmacies.

These maps depict blood pressure medication adherence by Vermont town, a network service area of drive times to community pharmacies of 15 or fewer minutes, and Vermont towns with low adherence and a greater than 15-minute drive time to the pharmacy. This sequence of maps is meant to evaluate drive times to community pharmacies as a barrier to blood pressure medication adherence by identifying towns with low levels of medication adherence (less than 75 percent of town residents at least 80 percent adherent to medication regimens) and limited access to community pharmacies (more than a 15-minute drive). Over a quarter (27 percent) of Vermont towns (70 of 255) were identified as having low levels of medication adherence and limited access to community pharmacies.

Key Points

Major Findings

Over a quarter of Vermont towns (27%) had less than 75% of the adult population with a history of hypertension in the last two years that were at least 80% adherent to their blood pressure medication regimens.

How the map will be used, or has been used

Program staff will utilize this map to provide situational awareness of Vermont towns that have lower levels of blood pressure medication adherence and less access to community pharmacies. Additionally it will aid in identifying partners and strategies to help reduce proximity as a barrier to Vermonters adhering to their blood pressure medication.

ArcMap 10.5.1 ESRI

Vermont Healthcare Uniform Reporting and Evaluation System (VHCURES) internal list of community pharmacies in Vermont and in the U.S. states within 20 miles of the Vermont border.

Proportion of insured population with history of hypertension (in last 2-years) extracted from VHCURES for all Vermonters aged 18 and older for all payers (commercial, Medicaid, Medicare) who were insured for the full calendar year being analyzed. The proportion of town populations at least 80% adherent to their blood pressure medication regimens were stratified by quintiles. Towns with fewer than 11 residents with claims for blood pressure medication were suppressed. A network analysis was performed to establish a 15-minute drive time service area toward community pharmacies. Community pharmacies in New York, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts were included in the service area calculation if they were within 20 miles of the Vermont state border; only community pharmacies within Vermont were displayed. Towns with low adherence and limited access (defined as towns with <75% of adults at least 80% adherent to their blood pressure medication regimens) to pharmacies were identified by performing a “selection by location” for towns with <75% of adults adherent that intersected the 15-minute drive time service area. This selection was then switched to select towns with low blood pressure medication adherence that were outside the 15-minute service area thus displaying towns with low adherence that were >15-minute drive from a community pharmacy. A new map layer was created from this selection to display the results.

Paul Meddaugh, Public Health Analyst, Vermont Department of Health
802-951-0133
paul.meddaugh@vermont.gov

Paul Meddaugh, Vermont Department of Health; Accessed from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Chronic Disease GIS Exchange, https://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/maps/gisx/mapgallery/VT-pharmacies.html