Medical Non-

AdherencePatient Non-Adherence to Prescribed

Medication and Treatment

What is Non-Adherence?

In Medicine, adherence (or compliance) describes the degree to which a patient correctly follows medical advice.

About 75% of adults are non-adherent in at least one way!

The Consequences of Non-Adherence

waste of medication and money

disease progression

reduced functional abilities/general health deterioration

a lower quality of life

patient/doctor distrust

increased use of medical resources (e.g. nursing homes, hospitals, emergency transport, etc.)

Economic Effects

23% of nursing home admissions due to noncompliance. Estimated cost: $31.3 billion Patients affected: 380,000

10% of hospital admissions due to noncompliance. Total cost: $15.2 billion Patients affected: 3.5 million

Altogether, the economic impact of non-adherence is estimated to cost $100 billion annually.

Prescriptions

Just under 50% of Americans will have used at least one prescription drug in the last month.

About 50% of the 2 billion prescriptions filled each year are not taken correctly .

1/3 of patients take all their medicine, 1/3 take some, 1/3 don't take any at all (Rx prescription never filled ).

Most deviations in taking medication occur as omission of doses (rather than additions) or delays in the timing of doses.

A Closer Look

Why don’t people follow their prescribed treatments? What are the real causes?

Self-Apathy

Money

Inability

Skepticism

ForgetfulnessComplexity

What’s Wrong

?

There are many products available to help patients follow prescription regimens. Why haven’t they alleviated the problem?

User Groups

The factors behind non-adherence are not the same for everyone.

Elderly patients often feel overwhelmed with their treatment (many will take 10+ different pills daily).

Patients living on fixed income are more affected by price changes.

Patients living alone often lack a support system.

Children suffer from the inability to treat themselves in many cases.

Dependent on someone else remembering their treatment.

Children often don’t understand why they are being exposed to finger pricks, bad-tasting medicine, etc.

User Groups

Elderly

Self-Apathy

Money

Complexity

Forgetfulness

User Groups

Children

Inability

Forgetfulness

Skepticism

Reframe

What are the specific factors behind the problem?

How will those factors be addressed?

What comes next?

Where we go from here…