Use American Heart Association chart to help your patients with medication adherence

Taking medication correctly might seem simple, but nonadherence is a complicated and common problem for many patients. Some patients don’t realize that not taking their asthma, diabetes or cardiovascular medications as prescribed puts them at risk for respiratory arrest, kidney failure or stroke.

The Health Resource and Service Administration found that the following percentage of people with these chronic conditions don’t take their medication as directed:

• Coronary heart disease — 40 to 50%
• Hypertension — 16 to 22%
• Diabetics prescribed insulin — 37%
• Asthma — 25 to 75%

Not taking medication as prescribed also results in 10% of total hospital admissions, 22% of nursing home admissions and is associated with 125,000 deaths, according to the HRSA. This results in $100 billion a year in unnecessary hospital charges and costs the U.S. economy $300 billion a year.

The American Heart Association developed a printable medication chart** to help patients with medication adherence.

An FEP^® reminder

The Federal Employee Program^® provides registered nurses and online health coaches to help members manage their chronic conditions. FEP members can call Customer Service at 1-800-482-3600 for assistance or go online at www.fepblue.org.

**Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan doesn’t own or control this website.