"Drugs don't work in patients who don't take them" - C. Everett Koop
What is medication adherence?
Medication adherence refers to the patient's conformance with the provider's recommendation with respect to timing, dosing, and frequency of medication-taking during the prescribed length of time (courtesy of CDC).
Ignoring a medication treatment plan prescribed by your doctor can lead to many serious health problems. It can result in unnecessary disease progression and complications, loss of everyday abilities, a lower quality of life, and even death.
Ignoring a medication treatment plan prescribed by your doctor can lead to many serious health problems. It can result in unnecessary disease progression and complications, loss of everyday abilities, a lower quality of life, and even death.
Why is medication adherence important?Here are some facts about medication adherence (courtesy of Aetna):
- Poor medication adherence results in about $290 billion in increased medical costs per year. - About 50% of patients do not take their medication as directed. - Patients with chronic illnesses and depression are nearly twice as likely to be non-adherent to prescription medication. - Poor adherence causes more than 1/3 of medicine-related hospital admissions annually. - An estimated 125,000 deaths occur each year from poor medication adherence. - Limited health literacy has been associated with poorer health, medication non-adherence, medication errors, higher medical expenses and increased hospitalization. What are some common reasons people skip their meds?How is Script Your Future working to improve medication adherence?Click HERE to find out what we are doing as an organization to improve these problems!
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