Provider Blog / Make It a 100-Day Supply
August 11, 2026
Make It a 100-Day Supply
For stable maintenance medications, moving patients from 30-day to 100-day supplies is one of the highest-impact, lowest-effort things you can do for adherence — and HealthTeam Advantage covers it.
Medication nonadherence is one of the most common — and most preventable — drivers of poor outcomes in older adults. One of the simplest fixes is also one of the most effective: writing a 100-day supply for the maintenance medications your patients take every day. Fewer refill events means fewer chances to fall behind, and the data backs it up.¹
Why 100-day Fills Matter
+9 to 15 points
Moving a patient from a 30-day to a 100-day supply raises the likelihood of reaching the adherence threshold (PDC ≥ 80%) by roughly 9 to 15 percentage points.
Fewer gaps, by design. Every refill is a chance for a coverage gap. A 100-day supply cuts the number of fills from twelve a year to about four, removing the missed-refill windows that quietly erode adherence.
It moves your adherence measures. The Medicare Part D adherence measures — diabetes medications, hypertension (RAS antagonists), and cholesterol (statins) — are scored on proportion of days covered and are triple-weighted in the CMS Medicare Star Ratings, among the most influential measures a plan has. Extended-day fills are the single most reliable lever on these measures.
Better adherence, better outcomes. Higher adherence is consistently linked to improved control of chronic conditions and reduced hospitalization and mortality.
Easier for your patients. Fewer pharmacy trips, fewer copay events, and less transportation burden add up to a meaningful difference for older adults managing several chronic medications.
What HealthTeam Advantage Covers
HealthTeam Advantage offers up to a 100-day supply for medications on Tier 1 through Tier 4, available at both preferred and standard retail pharmacies. Mail order has the same tiered cost-share as preferred retail. This is in addition to the standard 30-day supply.
2026 Cost-share — Plan I example (what your patient pays):
Tier |
Month (up to a 30-day) supply |
Long-term (up to 100-day) supply |
||
| Preferred Retail Pharmacy | Standard Retail Pharmacy | Preferred Retail Pharmacy or Mail-Order Pharmacy | Standard Retail Pharmacy | |
| 1 – Preferred Generic | $0 copayment | $10 copayment | $0 copayment | $30 copayment |
| 2 – Generic | $3 copayment | $15 copayment | $9 copayment | $45 copayment |
| 3 – Preferred Brand | 20% coinsurance | 25% coinsurance | 20% coinsurance | 25% coinsurance |
| 4 – Non-Preferred Drug | 35% coinsurance | 45% coinsurance | 35% coinsurance | 45% coinsurance |
| 5 – Specialty | 30% coinsurance | 30% coinsurance | N/A – 30-day limit | N/A – 30-day limit |
Preferred-generic and preferred-pharmacy choices carry the lowest cost. Cost-share varies by plan — confirm specifics through the Member Portal or the Healthcare Concierge. Home Delivery is available at Cone Health Community Pharmacies. Mail Order is available through Cone Health Community Pharmacy at Wesley Long.
Tips for Writing a 100-day Fill
- Once a patient is stable on a maintenance medication, write the prescription for a 100-day supply rather than 30.
- Preferred pharmacies generally carry the lowest copays for generics and preferred brands; mail order/home delivery is an option for patients who prefer it.
- Check the formulary for non-preferred (and non-formulary) drugs. Non-preferred and non-formulary medications have higher cost-share. The Medication Look-Up tool confirms tier, coverage, and often lower cost alternatives.
- Flag specialty separately. Tier 5 specialty drugs are limited to 30-day. The high-volume maintenance classes that drive adherence are exactly the ones eligible for 100 days.
Best Practices
Stabilize, then extend. Start a new medication at 30 days with a follow-up to confirm tolerability and dose. Once stable, convert to a 100-day supply. This keeps clinical oversight where it belongs while still capturing the adherence benefit.
Target the adherence classes first. Diabetes, hypertension/RAS antagonists, and statins give you the biggest return, clinically and on your quality measures.
Fix the default. Many EHRs default to a 30-day fill, which is the main reason maintenance meds get short supplies. Update your saved favorites or default day-supply to 100 days for stable chronic medications.
Synchronize refills. Aligning a patient’s maintenance medications to the same fill date consolidates pharmacy trips and makes 100-day cycles easier to sustain.
Let clinical need drive visits, not refills. Schedule follow-ups around the care the patient needs, not around when a 30-day prescription runs out.
Debunking the Myths
The myth |
The reality |
| “My patients’ meds change too often — 100-day fills just create waste.” | For patients stable on a maintenance regimen, dosing and product changes are uncommon. Studies of even post-heart-attack patients found medication changes were infrequent over a year and no more frequent with 90-day fills. Stabilize first, then extend, and waste largely disappears. |
| “A 100-day fill costs my patient more out of pocket.” | Cost-share is applied per fill, so a 100-day supply usually means one copay instead of three — fewer copay events, not more. Many generics are $0–$9, and a preferred in-network pharmacy keeps costs lowest. |
| “It’s only available through mail order.” | Not at HealthTeam Advantage. Up to a 100-day supply is covered at both preferred and standard retail pharmacies. Mail order is an option, not a requirement. |
| “My EHR just defaults to 30 days.” | That default — not clinical need — is the single biggest reason maintenance meds get short fills. Changing the default or your saved favorites to 100 days fixes it in one step. |
| “Fewer fills means I lose touch with the patient.” | Refill cadence shouldn’t set your visit schedule. Keep follow-ups tied to clinical need (a 30-day check on a new medication, for example) and reserve 100-day fills for stable therapy. You keep the touchpoints that matter without forcing monthly pharmacy trips. |
| “Specialty drugs can’t be 100 days anyway.” | True — Tier 5 specialty is generally limited to 30 days. But that’s a small slice. The maintenance classes that move adherence (diabetes, hypertension, statins) are exactly where 100-day fills apply. |
Resources your patients can use
Healthcare Concierge — For prescription assistance and coverage questions, call 888-965-1965 or email conciergeHTA@htanc.com from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET, Monday – Friday from April 1 – September 30, and 7 days a week from October 1 – March 31.
Our Website — Visit htanc.com/members for plan documents, pharmacy info, and the Medication Look-Up tool to confirm tier, coverage, and 100-day eligibility for a specific drug.
Questions about this initiative or your patient panel? Contact your Provider Concierge at 844-806-8217 (option 5) or providerconcierge@htanc.com.
1Transitioning from a 30- to 90-day supply raises the likelihood of reaching PDC ≥ 80% by roughly 9–15 percentage points. Adherence analyses summarized in Anthem / Healthy Blue, “Medication adherence: a silent epidemic,” Provider News (2026); and Pharmacy Times, “Is a 90-Day Supply the Best Option to Improve Medication Adherence?” (2022).