A Descriptive Analysis of the Emergency Prescription Assistance Program’s (EPAP) role in providing access to chronic care medications to displaced disaster survivors of Hurricane Maria in the United States Virgin Islands

Abstract

In this study we explore the capabilities and the impact of Emergency Prescription Assistance Program (EPAP) during Hurricane Maria in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) using descriptive analytic methods and mapping from the data provided by the Department of Health and Human Services. To date, this is the first academic analysis of EPAP conducted since its launch in 2008 post Hurricanes Ike and Gustav. Three primary study objectives are explored which include the following: a) Characterization of the chronic care medication needs met by EPAP. b) Characterization and subsequent analysis of the type of claims processed, the time period over which the claims were processed c) Characterization of pharmacies that utilized EPAP in Hurricane Maria. The EPAP proved to be useful federal program to help meet the ongoing chronic care medication needs of the uninsured disaster survivors from USVI. Since the program activation in November 2017, EPAP has served over 2000 patients amounting to over 17,000 prescription claims processing through April 2018. Maintenance medications claims for hypertension, diabetes and antibiotics were the top three drug categories processed by the program. Through local pharmacies enrolled with EPAP, continuity of care was ensured, and the local business operations were bolstered post hurricane. EPAP services are a critical component of the disaster recovery efforts to address chronic care medication needs of displaced disaster survivors.