The U.S. incurs an estimated loss of $300 billion due to poor medication adherence every year.1 Thankfully in the last 8 – 10 years CMS (the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) has been working to resolve this problem. In 2008, Medicare published a study concerning hospital re-admission rates for high profile chronic conditions from 2004-2006. Data revealed that 25% of heart failure patients were re-admitted for the same problem within 30 days of discharge and 45% within 60 days. Hospitals then submitted for reimbursement again at a full rate. Medicare realized they needed to engage the hospitals in broader patient care, not just institutional care. This increased responsibility forced healthcare providers to look at post-discharge performance, including adherence to prescribed medications.
Since this Medicare study, medication adherence has seen increased visibility, thanks to programs like the National Consumers League Script Your Future campaign and work being done by the Council for Affordable Health Coverage and Prescriptions for a Healthy America. The latter has heralded a developing piece of legislation, H.R. 4292: Synchronization & Nonadherence Correction (SYNC) Act of 2015 which would provide for research and the testing of innovative health care delivery models to improve medication adherence.