To be completed by the Office of the
Secretary of the House of Delegates
Item Number: 4
Date received: 2/25/2015
Time received 3:41pm
American Pharmacists Association
House of Delegates – San Diego, CA
March 27 and 30, 2015
NEW BUSINESS
(To be submitted and introduced by Delegates only)
Introduced by:
LCDR James Dvorsky (USPHS)
(Name)
25 Feb 2015
(Date)
Subject:
Federal Pharmacists
(Organization)
Pharmacists Role in Promoting Medication Adherence
Motion:
1. APhA recognizes that pharmacists are integral to promoting and improving patient adherence to
medications.
2. APhA advocates for pharmacists taking leadership roles in working with administrators, health care
professionals, payers, patients and other stakeholders to design processes and systems that promote
interoperability and care coordination across settings to improve medication adherence.
3. APhA advocates for the profession of pharmacy to continually review, evaluate, and disseminate evidencebased methods to improve medication adherence.
4. APhA advocates for raising national awareness about the issue of medication adherence.
5. APhA advocates for initiatives promoting medication adherence to include strategies that educate and
engage patients in their treatment.
Background:
“Drugs don’t work in the patients who don’t take them” (C. Everett Koop 13th U.S. Surgeon General)
Medications are a cornerstone in managing chronic disease. With nearly half of American adults living with
chronic disease, prescription drugs are an integral part of disease management in America. More than 48% of
Americans use one or more prescription drugs and 11% use 5 or more.1 Unfortunately, non-adherence
remains a critical problem that is reducing the effectiveness for the drugs that are taken. Studies show that
20% to 50% of patients are not adherent to long-term therapy for chronic illness- and this non-adherence
comes at a cost.2,3 Each year, optimal medication use for hypertension alone would save 89,000 premature
deaths from cardiovascular disease, as well as 278,000 hospitalizations for stroke and 142,000 hospitalizations
for heart attacks each year.4 Improved adherence to diabetes medications could avert an estimated 699,000
emergency room visits and 341,000 hospitalizations annually.5
As a complex problem that has always been central to the effective use of medications, it is time to bring
medication adherence into the national spotlight. The US has been working to reform its health care system
with the triple aim of improving the patient experience of care (including quality and satisfaction), improving
the health of populations, and reducing the per capita cost of health care. Medication, as a pillar of chronic
disease treatment and management, is essential for reaching the triple aim by improving the patient experience
through improved quality of care and effectiveness of care, improving the health of populations by managing
chronic disease and preventing the progression of disease, and reducing the cost of care by preventing the
most acute (and expensive) exacerbations of disease.
In the decades since C, Everett Koop articulated the issue, research around improving medication adherence
has continued to expand and improve. We have finally reached a point where we have the evidence and
interventions to bring medication adherence to the appropriate medications into the national spotlight to
make a change.
Pharmacists play a central role ensuring the effective use of prescription drugs...the right drug, at the right
dose, at the right time. Pharmacists are at the front line of patient care and it is often the direct interventions
of pharmacists, such as medication therapy management and clinical pharmacy services, which directly impact
medication adherence and medication safety. As medication adherence continues to come into the national
spotlight as an important public health issue, pharmacists should take the opportunity to chart the path
forward.
1
Gu Q, Dillon CF, Burt VL. Prescription drug use continues to increase: U.S. Prescription drug data for 2007-2008 2010.
DiMatteo MR. Variations in Patients' Adherence to Medical Recommendations: A Quantitative Review of 50 Years of Research.
Medical Care. 2004;42:200-209.
3
World Health Organization. Adherence to long-term therapies: Evidence for action. Geneva, Switzerland 2003.
4
Cutler DM, Long G, Berndt ER, et al. The Value Of Antihypertensive Drugs: A Perspective On Medical Innovation. Health Affairs.
2007;26:97-110.
5
Jha AK, Aubert RE, Yao J, Teagarden JR, Epstein RS. Greater Adherence To Diabetes Drugs Is Linked To Less Hospital Use And
Could Save Nearly $5 Billion Annually. Health Affairs. 2012;31:1836-1846.
2
Current APhA Policy & Bylaws:
1993 Patient Compliance: Pharmacists' Responsibilities
1. APhA affirms that pharmacists are responsible for assisting patients to become active, informed, decision
makers regarding compliance with their prescribed therapeutic plans.
2. APhA will convey to the public, employee benefit managers, third-party payers, and other health care
decision makers, the value and cost-effectiveness of the role of the pharmacist in comprehensive medicationuse management.
(Am Pharm NS33(7):55 July 1993) (Reviewed 2004) (Reviewed 2010)
New Business Items are due to the Speaker of the House by February 25, 2015 (30 days prior to the start of the first House
session). Consideration of urgent items can be presented with a suspension of the House Rules at the session where New Business will be acted
upon. Please submit New Business Items to the Speaker of the House via email at hod@aphanet.org.