PATIENT COMPLIANCE - PharmXpert Academy

JOURNAL FORPATIENT COMPLIANCE✓Strategies to enhance Adherence and Health OutcomesPharma patient adherence budgets have increased 281percent in four yearsPatient adherence is a hot topic for the healthcare industrybecause it can impede or undermine patients’ recovery or achronic condition. Non adherence costs an estimated $290billion in hospitalization stemming from complications. Forthe pharmaceutical industry, improving it could provide away to save millions in lost revenue. An effective plan by apharmaceutical company could pave the way to a favorablespot on a formulary.As startups, providers and pharmaceutical firmsdevelop ways to solve this critical problem, a new reporthas highlighted some interesting trends. Pharmaceuticalcompanies are devoting more budget spend to patientadherence teams and allocations to digital programs havespiked in the past year.In the past four years US pharmaceutical companies’patient adherence budget allocations have jumped 281percent from $400,000 in 2009 to $1.5 million in 2012.But more importantly there is an increasing recognitionthat understanding patients and their motivations will helppharmaceutical companies better engage them and makeadherence programs more successful. Here are some of themost interesting findings in a patient adherence survey byCutting Edge Information in Durham, North Carolina.JCS – Staff Writer – Maria AlvarezPatient Portals – From Doctor to PatientWith the advent of social media platforms such asFacebook and Twitter, a tremendous hype was generatedby being in constant touch with one another. By virtueof this phenomenon, staying in touch round the clockvia instant messaging where any physical boundariesor restrictions were absent became the new norm. Thissimple and effective means of communication delivereda great value for all business entities alike. The absenceof employing such useful technology would project anegative image into the mind of your clients. Health ITvendors could not afford to lose in this department; hence,to provide a solution to this predicament patient portalsemerged. Through the introduction of patient portals byestablished EMR vendors, hassle for patients along withphysicians was significantly reduced.’Patient Portals provide a platform for patients to stayconnected with their providers. Instantaneous access toall the patients’ reports, scheduling appointments etc. hasmade life easy for patients comprehensively. These portalseliminate the requirement for making phone calls everytime a patient might have a health related query. It wasnever as simplistic to manage your patients’ health priorto patient portals’, says an Ohio based physician.For the healthcare industry today, the Patient Portalhas emerged as the definitive platform for better patientengagement. The technology is so simplistic in nature thatpatients find it very user friendly to utilize and can operateit almost immediately with little or no training. All anypatient has to do is simply login to the online web basedportal in order to remain connected with their doctor.They can do this from any place and at any time;needless to say that this freedom of mobility ensued innumerous benefits. Now both patients and doctors didn’thave to incur the unnecessary costs on lengthy phone callsto one another. Reports could be obtained online, alongsideother relevant medical information. Even requesting refillsand scheduling appointments was made simple, at theconvenience of just a few clicks away.Source: Cutting EdgeOnline survey on the management of patient adherenceResearchers at Keele University have launched an onlinesurvey to learn about health care professionals’ (doctors,pharmacists and nurses) approach to supporting patientswith taking medicines and promoting adherence.Dr Wendy Clyne and colleagues at NPC Plus, KeeleUniversity, are coordinating the survey which is part ofa larger project on medicines adherence called the ‘ABCproject’ (www.abcproject.eu/) funded by the EuropeanCommission. The survey is taking place in countries acrossEurope including Austria, Belgium, France, Germany,Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Switzerland, TheNetherlands and England. The survey will run until the endof March 2012.The survey aims to investigate health care professionals’perceptions of the extent and nature of non-adherence,as well as the things that health care professionals do tosupport patients with medication taking.54 Journal For Patient Compliance Strategies to enhance Adherence and Health OutcomesVolume 2 - Issue 4