Improved Medication Adherence

Poor medication adherence is widely recognized as a significant source of waste in the healthcare system and an obvious detriment to patient health. An estimated 33%-50% of all patients in the U.S. don’t take their medications as prescribed by doctors. The New England Healthcare Institute (NEHI) estimates that the overall cost of poor adherence, measured in otherwise avoidable medical spending, is as much as $290 billion per year or 13% of total healthcare expenditures.

The relationship between a Patient Activation Measure score and medication adherence is clear: patients at the lower levels of activation are much more likely to not take medication as directed. As a PAM score improves, so does medication adherence. Understanding a patient’s self-management ability allows programs to go beyond the more obvious deficits, (such as forgetting, or cost barriers) to tackle the deeper, more important explanations for non-adherence and to tailor support accordingly.

Pharmaceutical clients include AstraZeneca, Roche and Sanofi Aventis.