Survey: Even when patients fill their Rx, most are noncompliant

Survey: Even when patients fill their Rx, most are noncompliant

Despite pharma efforts to improve patient medication compliance, 35% of patients did not fill all of the prescriptions they received, a number that has changed little in the past three years, according to a 2006 survey of 32,000 patients.   The survey from Wilson Health Information also showed that even when patients filled their prescriptions, 65% of them were not compliant with their medications, either because they didn't take all of their medicine or didn't take it as directed. The top reasons that patients didn't fill their prescriptions were that they didn't think they were needed (42%), they were too expensive (27%), and they changed doctors (20%). Forgetfulness (79%) was the most frequently cited reason for not taking their medicine as directed, followed by running out of medicine (19%), and cost (9%). Only 7% of respondents cited side effects as a reason for noncompliance.