Saving the health care system $300 billion
Saving the health care system $300 billion
Yes, $300 billion is a large number. So, if keeping people on their prescriptions as doctors direct can save the health care system $300 billion, how do we get to that number?
Poor medication adherence has long been recognized as a reason that people suffer disease progression, hospital re-admissions, long term care facility admissions and unnecessary emergency room visits. When people get sick because they stop taking prescriptions that can result in:
- An additional 156.9 million doctor visits, costing on average $155 per event, totaling $24.2 billion;
- An additional 11.5 million hospital admissions, costing on average $17,2712 per event, totaling $197.8 billion;
- An additional 23.5 million visits to the emergency room, averaging $993 per visit and totaling $23.3 billon;
- An additional 4.3 million admissions to nursing homes, at an average cost of $13,761 per patient, totaling $58.9 billion;
- The need for an additional 100 million prescriptions, costing $5.9 billion.
Those totals add up to $289 billion, a total that does not include costs incurred because up to 1.1 million people may die prematurely as a result of their significant health lapses from not taking their medicine.
Thinking Outside the Pillbox: a System-Wide Approach to Improving Patient Medication Adherence for Chronic Disease. A NEHI Research Brief – August 2009.
