Abstract
Despite the known health and economic benefits of medications, nonadherence remains a significant, yet entirely preventable public health burden. Over decades, there have been numerous research studies evaluating health interventions and policy efforts aimed at improving adherence, yet no universal or consistently high impact solutions have been identified. At present, new challenges and opportunities in policy and the movement toward value-based care should foster an environment that appreciates adherence as a mechanism to improve health outcomes and control costs (eg, fewer hospitalizations, reduced health care utilization). Our objective was to provide a commentary on recent changes in the landscape of research and health policy directed toward improving adherence and an actionable agenda to achieve system level savings and improved health by harnessing the benefits of medications. Specifically, we address the complementary perspectives of precision medicine and population health management; integrating data sources to develop innovative measurement of adherence and target adherence interventions; and behavioral economics to determine appropriate incentives.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Center of Innovation for Health Services Research in Primary Care (CIN 13-410) at the Durham Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center and the PhRMA Foundation. We thank Eileen Cannon, President of the PhRMA Foundation, for her support.
Disclosure
Dr Zullig is supported by VA Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D) Career Development Awards (CDA 13-025). Dr Bosworth is supported by a Career Scientist award (RCS 08-027). Dr Blalock was supported by Grant No TPH 21-000 from the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Academic Affiliations. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.