What Patient Characteristics Influence Use of Mail-Service Over Local Pharmacies?

A recent article in the American Journal of Managed Care identified better compliance (84.7% vs 76.9%) in patients using mail-service rather than a local Kaiser pharmacy.  However, the self-selected groups had much different characteristics such as race, socioeconomic deprivation score, Medicare versus commercial insurance and financial incentives to use mail-service.   I am still not sure whether place of service matters in most situations.  I think the services any pharmacy provides to improve adherence makes a bigger difference.  These include reminders, compliance monitoring and notification, incentives and personal connections with a pharmacist.