Help Enhance Patient Safety

In the U.S., 20% to 30% of all medication prescriptions are never filled. Alarmingly, more than one in three medication-related hospitalizations happen because a person did not take his/her medication as directed (“non-adherence”). Poor medication adherence results in an estimated $290 billion per year of incremental healthcare costs in the U.S. At the individual level, poor medication adherence limits effective management of chronic illnesses and increases the likelihood of avoidable doctor visits, increased hospitalizations and preventable disease progression.

Many times, patients bring medications home but don’t follow their healthcare professional’s instructions. Examples of this include skipped doses, medications taken at the wrong time of day, or discontinued entirely. There are many reasons people don’t take their medication as directed, including side effects, forgetfulness, concern about the cost, or uncertainty about the need for the medication. Almost 125,000 people die every year because they did not take their medication as directed.

The National Medication Safety, Outcomes and Adherence Program (NMSOAP) will evaluate patients’ everyday experience with medications in the “real world.” Not just your experience, but the experiences of thousands of other patients taking the same medication.

With the voices of thousands of people like you, we can gain new knowledge and insights relating to how patients feel on the medications they take, how they take them, if they suffer any side effects (adverse events), and how and why patients do or do not take their medications as prescribed (adherence).

This can only come from your participation. By sharing your experience and insights via NMSOAP’s brief monthly survey, you will advance knowledge of medication safety and improve health outcomes for you and the thousands of other patients like you who are taking the same medications and managing the same health conditions.