Addressing medication adherence gaps

Medications are the primary intervention in treating and preventing disease. For most conditions, medications need to be taken 80% or more of the time to see an improvement in clinical outcomes.

Forty to fifty percent of patients are non-adherent to their medications for chronic conditions, leading to 100,000 preventable deaths and $100 to $300 billion in preventable medical costs per year.*

How can we prevent and close adherence gaps?

Be aware of contributing factors that influence non-adherence:

• Cognitive impairment
• Fear of side effects
• Too many medications
• History of non-adherence
• Lack of perceived benefit
• Confusion
• Transportation
• Cost

Implement a standardized process to identify patients with non-adherence:

• Ask about adherence at every appointment.
• Incorporate patient questionnaires or patient interviews using open-ended questions into existing workflows.
• Analyze non-adherence reporting or claims to identify patients.
• Leverage your electronic health record to identify patients at risk for non-adherence.

Be proactive: Tailor the solution to the patient’s needs or concerns:

• Simplify the medication regimen by considering once daily dosing.
• Always educate patients on benefits and risks of taking or not taking their medications.
• Leverage real-time prescription benefit to select lower cost and formulary medications during the electronic prescribing process.
• Consider home delivery (mail) and 90-day supply to prevent refill gaps, avoid long waits at the pharmacy, and minimize transportation barriers.

Consider medication non-adherence first as a reason when a patient’s condition is not under control.