Noncompliance with prescribed medicines contributes
to over 125,000 deaths each year, costing the health care system more than $175 billion annually. Yet, despite the nearly 40,000 articles published on the subject, noncompliance still persists. In this session, IMS will feature a dynamic and interactive
discussion that offers new perspectives on the problem of noncompliance, the breadth and quality of current compliance literature, and insights into the design and evaluation of evidence-based
compliance programs.
Few would argue with former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop’s assertion that “Drugs don’t work in patients who don’t take them.” Noncompliance with prescribed medications cuts across all socio-demographic groups, therapy areas, and countries. It reduces the effectiveness of treatments, contributes to 125,000 deaths, and costs the health care system over $175 billion each year.
Yet despite a total of nearly 40,000 articles having been published on the topic of medication compliance since 1966, the latest examples from most therapy areas demonstrate that the problem persists—and patients don’t. Why is this? Have we studied the wrong questions? Failed to translate good evidence into practice? What are the clinical, administrative, and economic barriers? Are there best practices that should be implemented more broadly?
The 2008 IMS Health ISPOR Symposium will feature an interactive and dynamic discussion of these questions. The speakers will offer their perspectives on the body of research, why progress has been slow, and the keys to significantly improving medication compliance at the health system level.
Moderator: Jonothan Tierce, CPhil, General Manager, IMS Health, Health Economics & Outcomes Research,
Falls Church, VA,USA.
Speakers: Joshua S. Benner, PharmD, ScD, Principal, IMS Health, Health Economics & Outcomes Research,
Falls Church, VA, USA
Richard A. Feifer, MD, MPH, Vice President of Program Development, Care Enhancing Solutions,
Medco Health Solutions, Inc., Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA
