Poor Medication Adherence – the $300 billion Problem
An overlooked healthcare problem world-wide is the severe lack of medication adherence, though a problem that is gaining attention as governments focus on healthcare costs and improving outcomes.
The US Situation:
- Half of all patients do not take their medications as prescribed [1]
- More than 1 in 5 new prescriptions go unfilled [2]
- Adherence is lowest among patients with chronic illnesses [3]
- At least 125,000 Americans die annually due to poor medication adherence [4]
- As adherence declines, emergency room visits increase by 17% and hospital stays rise 10% among patients with diabetes, asthma, or gastric acid disorder [5]
- Poor medication adherence results in 33% to 69% of medication-related hospital admissions in the United States, at a cost of roughly $100 billion per year [1]
- NEHI estimates that total potential savings from adherence and related disease management could be $290 billion annually — 13% of health spending [6]
- In Parkinson’s Disease, adjusting for confounders including comorbidity burden, nonadherence was associated with a $3,451 yearly increase in medical costs [7]
- The global pharmaceutical industry loses an estimated $564 billion annually due to medication non-adherence. The estimate for the US pharmaceutical industry is $188 billion. [8]
References:
[1] Osterberg L, Blaschke T. “Adherence to Medication.” New Engl.J. Med., Aug 4, 2005; 353(5): 487-97.
[2] Fischer MA, Choudhry NK, et al. “Trouble Getting Started: Predictors of Primary Medication Nonadherence.” Am. J. of Med., 2011 November; 124(11): 1081.e9 – 1081.e22; See also, Fischer MA, Stedman MR, Lii J, et al. “Primary Medication Non-Adherence: Analysis of 195,930 Electronic Prescriptions.” J. Gen. Intern. Med., 2010 April; 25(4): 284–290.
[3] Sokol MC, McGuigan KA, Verbrugge RR, Epstein RS. “Impact of Medication Adherence on Hospitalization Risk and Healthcare Cost.” Med Care. Jun 2005 ;43(6):521-30.
[4] McCarthy R, “The price you pay for the drug not taken.” Bus Health. 1998;16:27-28,30,32-33.
[5] Goldman D, “Pharmacy Benefits and the Use of Drugs by the Chronically Ill.”, J. of the Amer. Med. Ass’n, 19 May 2004.
[6] NEHI Research Brief, “Thinking Outside the Pillbox: A System-wide approach to Improving Patient Medication Adherence for Chronic Disease.” NEHI, 2009.
[7] Fleisher J & Stern M, “Medication Non-adherence in Parkinson’s Disease” Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports August 2013
[8] Forissier T, Thomas & Firlik, K, “Estimated Annual Pharmaceutical Revenue Loss Due to Medication Non-Adherence” Capgemini Consulting November 2012