Take as Directed -- OR NOT

The rising cost of healthcare is a common discussion topic these days -- about as common as rising gasoline prices or the weather.

Some interesting notes from George Paz, the CEO of Express Scripts, a company that processes more than a million prescriptions a day, puts a different spin on a large part of the medical cost crisis though. He recently spoke on patients taking their medications as prescribed, something that many people may think is simple enough. But maybe it isn't.

In the medical field, it's referred to as "medication adherence," but to you and I this simply means, "Do you take the prescriptions as your doctor ordered, if at all?" Mr. Paz, says that of all the patients who get a prescription, a surprising 24% either (1.) do not pick it up, or (2.) don't begin using it. For those who do pick it up and begin taking their medication:

*4 out of 10 patients comply less than 80% of the time for those with diabetes;
*3 out of 10 patients comply less than 80% of the time for those with high blood pressure; and similarly,
*3 out of 10 patients comply less than 80% of the time for those with high cholesterol.

The funny (or sad) thing is that at a subsequent doctors visit, the physician observes the same (or even worse) symptoms, falsely assumes that the dosage s/he prescribed is the issue, and then writes another prescription for the same drug only at a higher dose -- or even adds a second drug -- all because the patient isn't doing what was first prescribed.

Obviously, this ties up the physician's time, as well as his/her staff's time and attention. It leads to an amazing amount of prescriptions just flat-out wasted, as well as far worse cases of these medical conditions, which could have been controlled or helped if properly treated earlier. And generally, it puts a strain on the entire medical community for nothing… all because the prescriptions weren't taken or taken as prescribed.

As the old adage goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink… in this case, though, we're all paying for that drink, whether the horse decides to drink or not.
So, please "take as directed."

For more information from a different resource than discussed above, take a look at this link from the American Pharmacists Association:

http://www.pharmacist.com/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Login1&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=16020

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This blog post by Chris Wathen was also published in his Linton, Indiana based Greene County Daily World blog entitled, “Riddle Me This”.