People who don't take their medicine properly cost the nation $100 billion a year in medical bills and lost productivity, according to a drug industry study.
Half the time, Americans skip doses, abandon their medicine early or don't get prescriptions filled - habits that keep them sick and have caused a surge in drug-resistant diseases.The problem is an old one, but the drug industry on Monday put the first price tag on it. A study by the Task Force for Compliance, a consortium of 22 pharmaceutical companies, found missing medicine caused:
- At least 10 percent of hospital admissions, costing $25 billion.
- $50 billion in lost productivity.
- 10 percent of nursing-home admissions, costing $5 billion.
- $20 billion due to premature death and treatment for ambulatory patients.
"The patient has a responsibility for how he or she takes drugs that enhances not only their health, but the health of the nation," said Dr. Hazle Shorter, chairman of the task force.
The task force says doctors and pharmacists don't explain how to take medicine or stress the importance of finishing all those pills, and it wants them to communicate better.
But the American Association of Retired Persons says the main problem is the industry's high prices.
Buying medicine is a financial burden for 58 percent of Americans 45 or older, said the AARP's Dan Durham. Ten percent say prescription costs force them to cut back on food or heat.