mHealth Tools Boost Medication Adherence

While patients don’t always appreciate their loved ones telling them to take their medication, they do want mobile reminders from their healthcare providers. There are a lot of barriers to medication adherence among patients with chronic conditions. Among them, many people overestimate how well they think they’re complying with their prescription regimen. Those who admit to skipping doses cite side effects (44 percent) or inconvenient timing of their dose (28 percent) as key obstacles.

And help from loved ones isn’t always welcome: Participants in the survey, which was conducted by Russell Research on behalf of Express Scripts, said the most annoying source of reminders is their spouse or partner.

“This survey shows that while patients with chronic diseases know that medication is critical to their treatment and health, they don’t always act on that knowledge,” Snezana Mahon, vice president of Express Scripts Clinical Solutions, said in an announcement of the survey results.

“Given the huge cost of nonadherence to an individual patient’s health, as well as to the country as a whole, it’s essential for patients and clinicians to work together to find solutions to help overcome barriers to adherence.”