“Lack of medication adherence is America’s other drug problem,” according to the National Council on Patient Information and Education (NCPIE). Patient failure to take medications as prescribed has been estimated to cost in excess of $100 billion a year in the United States alone. Successful efforts to improve patient compliance confirm that the physician-patient relationship remains the key point of leverage. With the accelerating adoption of electronic prescribing, now is the time for healthcare stakeholders to utilize these technologies not only to streamline medical practice but also to support and improve patient outcomes, particularly after they have left the patient care setting. Provision of clinically relevant patient compliance information at the point-of- prescribing has proven to be a timely and effective method for significantly improving compliance in filling prescribed medications and in adhering to medication regimens.
