HOW CAN I IMPROVE PATIENT ADHERENCE?

The terms adherence and compliance are seen often in the medical literature and used interchangeably to define the extent of agreement between the prescribed medical regimen and actual patient practice. In general, poor adherence to medications accounts for substantial worsening of disease, death, and increased health care costs in the United States with a resultant cost of approximately $100 billion a year. ¹ Both indirect and direct ways of measuring adherence with a medication can be used. Direct methods include blood or urine levels of the medication or its metabolite or direct observation. Indirect methods include asking the patient whether he or she took his or her medication, assessing the clinical response, performing pill counts, obtaining refill rates, and electronic medication monitors.