NEHI Launches First-of-Its Kind Initiative to Improve Patient Adherence to Medication

June 22, 2009

CAMBRIDGE, MA – As the medical and financial burdens of chronic disease continue to rise, the New England Healthcare Institute (NEHI) announced today that it has launched a major initiative to identify strategies for improving adherence to medications prescribed for patients with chronic illnesses. The lack of medication adherence poses serious and unnecessary health risks and costs an estimated $177 billion annually.

Patients with chronic disease are particularly vulnerable to problems if they do not follow recommended courses of treatment; one recent study found that diabetes patients who do not take their medications have a 58 percent increased risk for hospitalization and an 81 percent increased risk of mortality. More than half of all Americans currently suffer from at least one chronic disease such as diabetes, heart disease and asthma at a cost to the economy of $1 trillion annually.

“One third to one half of all patients do not take the medications prescribed by their doctors, which leads to disease progression, complications, hospitalizations and even deaths that could be prevented,’’ said Valerie Fleishman, executive director of NEHI, a national health care research and policy institute. “As chronic diseases consume more and more of our health care spending, it is critical that we help patients manage their conditions and take their medications appropriately.”

Many factors are known to cause poor adherence, including forgetfulness, a lack of symptoms, patients’ denial of their condition, medication side effects, lack of health literacy and perceived inconvenience. Cost is also a factor, with recent national surveys showing that an increasing number of people cannot afford to fill their prescriptions because of the recession.

The NEHI initiative will first identify and then test strategies for medication adherence that improve the health, functional status and productivity of chronic disease patients, and create cost savings. The project will involve a broad coalition of patients, payers, providers, caregivers, and representatives from the pharmaceutical, health IT and employer communities to spur the policy changes that can best improve medication adherence across the U.S. To date, there have been few attempts to evaluate adherence problems from this critical system-wide perspective.

NEHI will assess the potential of a range of new interventions including patient education, dose schedules, innovative packaging and pill boxes, direct financial incentives to providers and patients, and counseling by physicians, nurses, pharmacists and others.

NEHI’s initiative comes as federal policymakers look for new ways to improve health outcomes and eliminate wasteful spending. “With medication nonadherence driving preventable hospitalizations, physician visits and emergency department use,” said Fleishman, “efforts to improve adherence complement national efforts to improve the coordination of care and the management of costly chronic illnesses.”

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About NEHI
The New England Healthcare Institute is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to transforming health care for the benefit of patients and their families. In partnership with members from all across the health care system, NEHI conducts evidence-based research and stimulates policy change to improve the quality and the value of health care. Together with this unparalleled network of committed health care leaders, NEHI brings an objective, collaborative and fresh voice to health policy. For more information, visit www.nehi.net.

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