Sick Days Due to Chronic Conditions

One of our pharma salespeople brought me the USA Today front page for the weekend of April 4-6. Not for the Final Four update, but for the snapshot of Sick Days. I am not that technically inclined to post to the snapshot picture, but it was a graph that charted the "numbers of work days lost per year to affected workers of these chronic conditions":

Depression/Mental Illness: 26
Cancer: 17
Respiratory Disorders: 15
Asthma: 12
Migraine: 11

One of the main points of medication adherence we stress at Intelecare is how it affects not only the patient but all stakeholders. In this case, the employer is loosing work days due to chronic conditions which could be controlled with the proper medical adherence. Also, when their employees return to work, they will most likely need a day or two to adjust and get back on track.

I will not approach cancer, as there are to many variables, but patients who suffer from depression/mental illness have horrible adherence rates, and fall into relapse due to not taking their medications properly. When they then react to an episode by taking their medication, they start a whole new cycle, waiting for the drug/s to take effect.

Patients who suffer from respiratory disorders and asthma generally do not take their medications unless they have an attack, when it is too late. As for migraine sufferers, there are preventative medications that, for the most part, are not taken as prescribed. My wife and father-in-law suffer crippling migraines, but refuse to take their medications, instead, to live with the pain and lie in bed for a day or two until their reactive medication takes effect.

Medication adherence is the biggest drug problem today. I hate to beat the statistic drum, but $177 BILLION annually in unnecessary healthcare costs and lost revenue is a lot of money. With employers' investing money and resources into wellness and preventative health programs, EAPs and the like, it is time for them to address medication adherence.

84% of non-adherent patients cite simple forgetfulness as the reason for not taking their medications. That is up from 64% two years ago. It is time for a change in medication adherence. It is time for Intelecare. Sometimes a reminder is all you need.

A Little Shamless Promotion

I am not that technologically savvy - I let our programmers handle that end of the business - but I learned how to post pictures yesterday and wanted to share our booth at the 2007 Working Mother WorkLife Congress. We were exhibiting to launch our product offering to employers. Intelecare's Personal Reminder Platform increases medication adherence by sending user created reminders via email, text and voice messaging. We serve the needs of patients and caregivers via our website, Intelecare.com, and with our API, our technology can be integrated into any exiting website as a fully branded adherence solution.

For example, Employer X has a wellness program on their website, with Intelecare's API, Employer X can offer medical reminders (ie. daily medication, refills, appointments, etc...) to their employees. Intelecare handles all the backend programming and message delivery. All the client needs to worry about it their front end design.

Reasoning? 23% of all employer health insurance costs are related to patient medication non-adherence. 64% of patients who are non-adherent cite they simply forget to take their meds. 45% of Americans are on medication. 50% of them are non-adherent. Thus shouldn't employers want to lower their healthcare costs by focusing on medication adherence - a very simple problem that costs the US $177 billion annually in lost revenue and unnecesssary healthcare costs? We think so.

Our API is also available to insurers, pharmaceutical companies, social health networks, EAP providers, and pharmacies. As part of our Enlighten Together program, we offer our Express (email only) solution to non-profits that focus on chronic diseases. All of our products and services are outlined on our website, Intelecare.com.

With that bit of promotion, I shall retire to find more information about this devastating pandemic that affects us all somehow. Please visit the NCPIE site, NCPIE Home to read their August report on medication adherence to find more facts and figures - as well as their call to action.

Stay adherent!