As Robin illustrated in her post, poor medication adherence results in poor health outcomes for millions of Americans, and costs billions of dollars in increased medical costs.  When three-quarters of Americans concede they don’t take their prescription medications as directed, we are faced with a public health problem that demands a broad, multi-faceted response.

As the nation’s oldest consumer organization, the National Consumers League has long worked to improve medication safety, patient education, and consumer education in the health community.  With planning funds from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), NCL is spearheading a first-of-its-kind national education campaign to raise consumer awareness of the importance of good medication adherence.  As called for in the 2007 NCPIE report, a public-private education campaign to motivate patients to improve their medication-taking behavior should be a national health priority.

Since the campaign planning phase got under way just a little more than a year ago, we have worked around the clock to bring together a diverse and committed group of stakeholders interested in improving medication adherence.  From government agencies to health care practitioner professional associations, community health plans to national health plans, pharmaceutical manufacturers to consumer advocates, the list of supporting organizations tops 100 and continues to grow.

The campaign, which NCL anticipates launching publicly in the third quarter of 2010, aims to educate consumers through mass media, including many new social media tools.  The depth and breadth of involvement from stakeholders will help reinforce the messages to ensure that consumers are educated, engaged, and empowered as they manage their health.  The campaign has involved health care practitioners (HCP) from the start, and HCPs will play an active role in improving adherence as they engage their patients.

Because poor adherence is especially harmful to people with chronic health conditions, such as asthma and diabetes, the campaign will focus special attention on those populations.  More than 45 percent of, or 133 million, Americans are affected by at least one chronic condition, and employers are seeing billions of dollars lost to chronic-condition related absenteeism. Every dollar that goes toward improving patient adherence is money well spent, ultimately resulting in long-term savings for the consumer – saving the consumer and the health system $7 in medical costs for those with diabetes, $5 in medical costs for those with high cholesterol, and $4 in medical costs for those with hypertension.

To motivate consumers to adhere to their medications, they must first understand that they play a key role in the management of their own health conditions. As consumers–and their communities– become more aware of the importance of taking medication safely and appropriately, the campaign hopes to improve behavior and positively affect health outcomes.  We look forward to working with employers to help engage and empower their employees to manage their health, resulting in a healthier and more productive workforce.  We are also pleased to work with health care practitioners eager to educate their patients about the importance of medication adherence. Finally, we believe this major public health problem is getting the attention it deserves.

We welcome your support and involvement as we continue to raise awareness about the issue and the many ways in which we can address it.  Please contact me at sallyg@nclnet.org or 202-835-3323.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 at 6:18 am and is filed under Drug Adherence. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.