5 minute read
A TOUGH PILL TO SWALLOW:
How medication cost and side effects can affect your health, and how your primary care doctor can help.
For the average American, medications are one of the most beneficial, yet one of the most burdensome aspects of daily health maintenance. From the pharmacist to the health plan, to the provider, there is an increasingly heavier emphasis placed on taking medications correctly and on time.
While it may not seem important, medication adherence, or taking your medication as prescribed, may be one of the most impactful strategies to prevent disease progression. According to the World Health Organization, medication non-adherence can account for up to 50% of treatment failure and over 25% of hospitalizations each year. In addition, if left untreated, disease states can progress and significantly impact health, leading to worsening symptoms, hospitalizations, and even death. So, let’s take a closer look into medication adherence and what you can do to take control of your own health.
WHAT IS MEDICATION ADHERENCE:
Medication adherence is defined as taking a medication exactly as prescribed 100% of the time. Therefore, medication non-adherence can be as simple as forgetting to take the evening dose of a medication a few times a month. Even missing medications occasionally has been shown to negatively impact patient outcomes. While taking medications as prescribed may sound straightforward, there are many reasons why patients may become “non-adherent”, and often the fix is not always simple. Becoming adherent requires open communication between the patient and their health care management team, as well as dedication from providers to help patients have every opportunity to succeed. Conversations with providers can involve increasing access to medication through different pharmacies, cost assessments, and optimizing your treatment regimens.
HOW IS GENESIS HELPING PATIENTS?
Through years of practice, our providers are dedicated to recognizing recurring patterns and reasons for non-adherence and work diligently to help patients overcome these barriers and improve their health status. While there are no easy fixes to improving adherence, Genesis recognizes that each patient’s healthcare journey is unique and requires frequent conversations and collaboration. By reducing barriers to adherence, our providers help empower patients to be in control of their health.
MEETING WITH PROVIDER
Engaging with provider is key to managing health through tailored care plans involving medications, procedures, and lifestyle changes. During each appointment, Genesis providers ensure each medication taken is clinically appropriate, refills are up to date and available, and symptoms are being managed appropriately. To do this effectively, it is important to have regular office visits and relevant laboratory work completed throughout the year. Genesis Medical Associates has a dedicated team of Quality Advocates who reach out to patients for reminders of overdue wellness exams, assist in facilitating refills, and confirm patients are up to date on all preventive healthcare measures to ensure they are receiving the highest quality care throughout all stages of the healthcare journey.
MEDICATION AFFORDABILITY
Some of the most common disease states such as Diabetes, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) require treatment with brandname-only medications. Often patients go to the pharmacy to pick up these medications, only to find copays anywhere from $50 up to over $500 per month. Compound this on top of several medications and cost becomes prohibitive to condition management. Genesis providers work closely with the pharmacies, health plans, and patients to ensure medication regimens are affordable. Our dedicated clinical pharmacist can review medication lists and recommend cost-effective alternatives, offer copay cards, and even work with the drug manufacturer through patient assistance programs for those who qualify.
TREATMENT PLAN CLARITY
Transportation to and from the doctor’s office is not always easy. Some people rely on relatives, friends, and coworkers for rides to and from the doctor’s office and the pharmacy. Similarly, patients often must visit the pharmacy several times in one month to pick up regular prescriptions. As medication lists lengthen, it becomes difficult to keep track of medication names, reasons for use, side effects, warnings, refill statuses, and costs. Some patients have difficulty managing this, resulting in side effects, drug interactions, confusion, and decreased quality of life. Through Genesis’ Chronic Care team, pharmacists and nurses are a phone call away. Examples of ways they have helped some patients include arranging for prescriptions to be filled through mail-order services or setting patients up with medication synchronization, so all their monthly medications are filled on the same day to decrease pharmacy trips. They have arranged for prescriptions to be filled in bubble-packs with directions and pre-dosing to improve understanding. They can also create detailed medication guides for patients that can include brand/ generic names of medication, dose, reason-for use, warnings, and other important information patients and caregivers desire. Our team has experience in helping connect appropriate patients to community-based programs for additional financial, educational, and transportation aid.
The purpose of medications is to help keep you as healthy as possible- don’t let cost or access get in the way. Speak to your provider today to learn how they can help.
