High costs seen in medication nonadherence: study

Modern Healthcare
August 11, 2009

The New England Healthcare Institute has released a study showing that patients who do not adhere to their prescriptions cost the healthcare system about $290 billion a year.

One-third to one-half of patients—especially those with chronic illnesses—improperly follow prescriptions, leaving themselves vulnerable to hospitalizations and medical risk. The larger spending could be avoided if patients adhered to medication orders given by physicians, according to NEHI's report, Thinking Outside the Pillbox: A System-wide Approach to Improving Patient Medication Adherence for Chronic Disease...

Link to Full Article: http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20090811/REG/308119965