by Fagor Healthcare | Feb 17, 2025 | News
Source of information: HealthITanalytics – Full article here
Medication adherence interventions that take place at a patient’s retail pharmacy may be able to help patients stay on track with their therapies and reduce the number of preventable hospitalizations.
“Patients receiving a new chronic diagnosis and medication therapy are at very high risk for nonadherence to medication, and this important study demonstrates how a diverse set of pharmacy and digital interventions improves care while reducing total healthcare costs”
Medication non-adherence is one of healthcare’s costliest problems, affecting more than half of patients and bringing millions of dollars in avoidable costs to payers and providers.
“Community pharmacists are uniquely positioned to help mitigate the high risk of medication discontinuation and improve adherence for patients initiating therapy because of their access to prescription refill information and frequent interactions with patients”.
Medication adherence programs that include pharmacists could be a low-cost and effective way to guide patients through chronic disease management while reducing the potential for adverse outcomes such as preventable hospitalizations.
by Fagor Healthcare | Feb 17, 2025 | News
Sources of information: HealthDay – See the original article here
New research suggests that the problem of missed pills rises with age and failing memory, especially for men and the problem can have serious consequences.
“Health conditions may worsen or not improve if older adults skip or don’t take their medications properly. Serious side effects may also occur from taking medications at the wrong time or in the wrong dose.”
Overall, people aged 80 and older were 1.5 to 3 times more likely to require help taking medications than those ages 65-69, the research showed. But gender mattered, too: Men were 1.5 to 2 times more likely to need help with medications than women, the study found.
Some tips to help older adults manage their medication regimen:
- Examine medicine bottle labels for the last date of renewal to confirm that you’re taking medicine regularly.
- Discuss with your doctor and pharmacist whether or not your current medications are still warranted, to avoid taking unnecessary meds or experiencing side effects.
- Use “medication adherence” tools, such as labeled pillboxes, to help keep you on track.
by Fagor Healthcare | Feb 17, 2025 | Therapy compliance
Sources of information: mobihealthnews – Full article here
Around the world, pharmaceutical companies are losing $637 billion in revenue per year from a multifaceted, but common problem: people with chronic conditions are not adhering to their medication.
“For pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, and pharmacy benefits managers, non-adherence significantly erodes profit due to prescriptions never filled and medications not taken often enough… non-adherence is also to blame for immense personal and societal costs beyond the financial, in the form of poor health outcomes, untimely death, lost productivity, and compromised quality of life.”
The problem isn’t new, nor is it getting smaller even though people are more aware of its impact, the report found. Globally, revenue loss has increased from $564 billion in 2012, and US-based losses alone increased from $188 billion four years ago to $250 billion in 2015. “Medication nonadherence is a serious global health issue that needs to be addressed immediately,”
What pharmaceutical companies need to do to address that, is to shift their focus from physicians to patients. While the physician has long been thought of as the customer, the evolving healthcare industry has become increasingly focused on the patient. Consumerization of the industry means more personalized products, addressing more complicated chronic conditions, in smaller patient populations.
Reaching all those different patients means learning more about their behaviors and what helps them adhere to their medications, the report found. Designing tools and methods for medication adherence with patients.
by Fagor Healthcare | Feb 17, 2025 | More Info
Source of information: Safe Medication – Original article here
Many people have a particular image of pharmacists as medication experts in white coats who work behind community pharmacy counters to dispense prescriptions. Some patients often assume that this is exactly what pharmacists who work in hospitals and clinics do as well. While some pharmacy staff in hospitals and clinics dispense medications, a community pharmacist also have additional roles that can significantly improve the health and well-being of patients.
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One of the most important duties of a community pharmacist is medication reconciliation, which is the process of comparing a patient’s new medication orders to all of the medications that the patient has been taking. It’s so important to keep a medication list and bring it with you to every trip to see a new doctor, to an urgent care clinic, or to the emergency room. Pharmacists will talk to you or your family members, contact your pharmacy, or look at your past hospital and clinic visits to make sure the medications given during your stay or prescribed for you to take home are accurate.
Pharmacists also work on teams with doctors and nurses to ensure that you receive the best care possible. They review the medicines that patients are taking and make recommendations to physicians about which medicines should be continued, which should be discontinued, and which new medicines should be prescribed. This process allows your medications to work as well as possible while minimizing side effects.
by Fagor Healthcare | Feb 17, 2025 | News
Information source: Oncology Nursing News – Original article here
As the number of approved oral anticancer agents grows, so too does the need for oncology nursing professionals to help patients adhere to these drug regimens when they are at home to ensure patients get the most benefit from their treatment.
These are 7 oral adherence tips from nurses and pharmacists:
1-Take a personalized approach: Intense side effects from oral agents can make it difficult for patients to take their medication, and individuals respond differently to the medications.
2-Monitor for drug interactions: A patient’s tolerance of oral anticancer agents can be affected by interactions between the drug and other medications for high blood pressure, diabetes, or other problems.
3-Be on the lookout for prescription stretching: Because of the cost of oral medications, patients may take half a pill, or take a pill every other day, to make the prescription stretch, or just hold off on refilling the prescription.
4-Check in early and often – don’t wait for the patient to call you: Checking on patient’s management and tolerance of treatment as well as offering tips to handle side effects can help. And, many patients may fear calling their nurse or pharmacist, especially to discuss side effects for fear ther dosage may be reduced.
5-Alerts, alarms, or text messages: Can help, along with aligning medication times with the patient’s daily routine, for example, if the patient always watches the 6 o’clock news that can be a reminder. In addition to reminders, a weekly message can be used to ask about symptoms.
6-Cost matters: Drug costs can distress patients. Work with the healthcare team to identify grant support or contact the manufacturer for assistance.
7-Provide patient education upfront and reinforce the message: Patients must have a full understanding of what they need to do and why. Follow-up phone calls help.
