Medication Adherence, A Market Opportunity

Working in healthcare communications I often come across surprising statistics that show how something little adds up to something drastic. For instance in an earlier post I used the example of how illegible prescriptions are the cause of 7,000 deaths in the US annually.  For the large majority of us who do get our proper prescriptions we are then often at fault for not taking them as prescribed. I was shocked to discover that not taking medications as instructed is costing the US $290 billion annually in increased medical costs*. It’s estimated that anywhere from one-third to one-half of patients in the U.S. are guilty of not properly adhering to their prescriptions (me included)!  The study found that this is causing poorer health, more frequent hospitalization, and a higher risk of death*. In addition, a recent article in The Boston Globe stated that medication non-adherence is tied to 89,000 premature deaths.


This issue presents a huge market opportunity to provide services and tools to help consumers with their personal adherence—first and most importantly for the health and safety of the consumer but synergistically the opportunity for revenue.  For instance, for drug manufactures medication adherence means stronger sales. For a pharmacy this could mean loyalty of customers who rely on their system to help them stay compliant. And what I find most exciting is the opportunity for third party businesses to create services that can generate revenue through registration fees, licensing agreements, or paid advertising placements.

RememberItNow.com is an example of a third party business working to close the adherence gap. The site’s service is available for a small monthly subscription of $4.99 and allows members to store all of their prescription medication in one place and setup email and mobile alerts. The site tracks the patient’s compliance and allows them to generate reports to share with family members and healthcare professionals.

Another great example is “smart” pill bottles. Medication Adherance Prescription Although not a new concept, adoption has been low because they are pricey and not covered by insurance. However, recently Express Script began a trial of electronic bottle caps for pill containers. When it’s time to take the medication, the “GlowCap” flashes orange. If the person fails to take it after an hour the device starts beeping. Express Scripts is covering the $100 cost. In my opinion it’s a smart move that should help secure patient loyalty and will hopefully create ROI for the cost of the initial GlowCap investment.

*The New England Healthcare Institute: High costs seen in medication nonadherence study (2009)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why You Feel Giddy During Exercise??Wanna Know

Image
Do you feel sleepy, or have vertigo, or tend to fall, if yes, then you also come in those people who feel giddy during exercise or after the exercise. So I want to tell you, if you are going somewhere wrong during exercise, don’t be tensed just read this: 1)    The first and most important thing you are forgetting is lack of fluid, our body needs at least 7 to 8 glass of water and food which contain lot of fluid like curd and fruit juice, so always drink water while exercise or even after exercise. 2)    If you work out in morning after your last meal which you had around 9 hours back , your body seems to be so low on energy and it requires a good amount of nutritious food  so always eat fruit or drink fruit juice before half an hour of exercise 3)    If you are suffering from anemia then it is also the reason behind feeling dizzy while doing or after exercise 4)    Fast movements in exercise can cause the giddiness to those peo...
Read more

Condoms Offer Effective Protection for HPV

Image
A three-year study of 82 women volunteers, initially virgins, at the University of Washington showed that after becoming sexually active, they reduced their chances of contracting human papilloma virus (HPV) by 70% when partners always used a condom. Women in the study kept journals of their sexual practices and were checked for HPV every four months with swabs of the cervix and other genital areas. They noted whether there was any genital contact before using the condom. HPV can cause cervical cancer, genital warts, vaginal, vulvar, anal and penile cancers. It is the most common sexually transmitted disease (STD), infecting about 80% of young women within five years after becoming sexually active. HPV is frequently killed by the immune system, but in some women, the virus causes lesions that can become cancerous. Worldwide, about 500,000 develop cervical cancer and nearly 300,000 die of it annually. In the U.S., some 3,500 women die of it each year. Known to prevent AIDS a...
Read more

Weight Loss Meals Body Fitness With Yoga And Exercise

Image
Yoga can rejuvenate the mind and physique with optimistic power that’s frequently necessary to tackle every day duties and challenges. But simply because you can find a lot more folks who don’t have the luxury of time to invest freely on tutorials, it’s imperative that yoga be provided by means of various venues and portal. You can find simple and helpful books that generally offer you basic tutorial to folks who wish to discover yoga. Prior to you commence on this course of action, you need to ideally check with along with your medical doctor as to whenever you ought to begin to physical exercise.And once you eventually have all of these down pat, once you have your healthful weight reduction strategy, whenever you have your gentle exercising regime, and when you have discovered the determination to stick to via with it, you’ll be able to take a modest nap from your exhaustion of planning the way to reclaim the body after pregnancy. A educated instructor can tailor your exercises dep...
Read more