Forget Your Meds? – There’s an App (or Vending Machine) for That!

UPS blog by Justin Bates
May 10, 2013 3:25 PM ET

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What if I told you that one of the most prevalent reasons for an unsuccessful course of drug therapy isn’t due to what’s in the pill bottle, but what’s on the pill bottle? It’s an unopened lid. As a nation we have an epidemic of ‘not taking what we were prescribed in the prescribed dosage.’ And like any epidemic, it has serious consequences.

Every year, prescription medication non-adherence (not taking medication at the right time, dosage, or simply not taking it at all) is responsible for more than 120,000 unnecessary patient deaths and $290 billion in unnecessary healthcare spending each year in the United States.

According to the World Health Organization, non-adherence is a much broader issue than many people realize:

  • After seeing their doctor, 20-30% of patients never fill their prescriptions
  • Even if they fill their prescription, 50% of patients do not adhere to their medication

Continue reading about medication non-adherence and the ways to change that >>

 

 

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