From USA TODAY:
Americans may waste as much as $258 billion a year by not taking prescribed medications because the missed doses lead to emergency room visits, doctors’ visits and in-patient hospitalizations, according to a study by Express Scripts, an independent prescription- filling company.
A second study conducted by CVS Caremark, Harvard University and Brigham and Women’s Hospital cited $290 billion in waste. Both studies looked at data from their own customers, insurance payouts, previous research and survey data. The CVS study also included productivity losses.
Researchers also found that more than half of people who believe they take their medications properly are not, according to the Express Scripts study…
Click here to read the full article.
EDITOR: Recently NewsLanc reported on how Geisinger Health System routinely has nurses pay visits to patients over 74 years of age to promote proper taking of medicines among other matters and the result has been the reduction by half of emergency room visits by that population. Unlike Lancaster General Hospital which receives fees for each service performed, Geisinger is owned by an insurance company which profits through preventive health care thus reducing need for treatment and hospitalization.
