The consequences of medication nonadherence are readily apparent. When possible, it is in the best interests of all stakeholders to close these gaps in health management and help patients better achieve the benefits of prescribed therapies. Advances on the technological and policy fronts as well as lessons learned from the efficacy environment can help improve the effectiveness of daily health care delivery to large, diverse populations of patients. Bringing about this needed change will require participation by all stakeholders, whether they are patients, clinicians, pharmaceutical companies, policy makers, health plan managers, pharmacy benefit managers, or payers. The challenge on a national level is to harness the best science and to finance and implement a systematic way to educate patients, monitor adherence and intervene when necessary, and measure improvement over time. The confluence of evolving health care policy, payer interest, electronic prescribing by clinicians, consumer empowerment, pharmaceutical company innovation, and systems integration offers hope that we will finally begin to make a dent in the problem of medication adherence

Read the complete article at: Medication Adherence: Hope for Improvement?
Author: Robert S. Epstein MD, MS, Medco Health Solutions, 100 Parsons Pond Dr, Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417 (robert_epstein@medco.com).