MEDICAL ADHERENCE MARKET ANALYSIS

Medical adherence refers to compliance of a patient to the prescribed medications with recommended dosage and stipulated time. Medical non-adherence can lead to serious complications. Lack of awareness among the populace is a major problem leading to health problems that can be easily avoided through proper medical adherence.

As per stats published in 2016 by America Heart Association Inc., around 3 out 4 people in the U.S. do not take their medications as directed, which leads to around 125,000 fatalities each year.

There are several reasons leading to medical non-adherence, the most prominent of them being forgetfulness about taking medication on time, non-affordability of medicines, and lack of awareness about the importance of taking medication in a timely manner.

According to the stats of the Million Hearts, out of 100 prescriptions written only 50-70 are received at the pharmacy, and 48-66 purchase the prescribed medication. Out of these only 25-30 takes their medications properly and around only 15-20 refill the medications as prescribed (data based on study conducted in the year 2009).

The clinicians/healthcare professionals have to take efforts to reduce the percentage of medical non-adherence. They have to encourage the patient to take medicines on time and also they have to write medical prescription instructions clearly and have to explain them to the patient. Also, doctors have to reinforce the patient verbally to take medications as prescribed and have to explain the benefits and losses of medical adherence. Also, by keeping continuous communication with patient doctors can identify the fear or problems behind the non-adherence of medication and can solve them. The doctors have to explain the importance of medicines in simple (non-medical) language, so the patient can understand the instructions easily and can remember it. Also, by keeping follow-up of patient doctor can address the issue regarding non-adherence of medications also it helps to maintain a healthy relation with patient. The segmentation of medical adherence market is done on based on the assessment method and geography.

Medical adherence market taxonomy:

Global Medical Adherence Market by Method of Assessment

• Direct
• Indirect

Medical adherence can be improved by following some assessment methods - direct method and indirect method. Direct observation, measurement of biological markers and measurement of the medicines/metabolite in blood comes under direct assessment method while indirect assessment method behavior or physiological markers assessment, self-reporting through surveys, interviews, through secondary data and by electronic monitoring such as using some mobile apps or by e-pills are indirect methods of measuring medical adherence.

Global Medical Adherence Market by Geography

• North America
• Europe
• APAC
• Latin America
• Middle East
• Africa

Initiative from healthcare organizations and emerging technologies in this field will help medical adherence market to grow in future

As per the data of American Heart Association, in U.S. around US$ 290 billion is spent on medication non-adherence yearly, which is avoidable. Also, between 1999 and 2010, around 543,000 stroke survivals reported that they are facing higher cost for health care due to their medication non-adherence. In the global medical adherence market North America holds the largest share, followed by Europe. Also, the continuous growth observed in APAC region in last few years.

There are so many reasons behind medical non-adherence but all this are avoidable. Also, some barriers present in medical adherence market are towing to complex drug therapies patient could not understand the treatment and importance of drug. Also, it helps to develop anxiety about the medications. Fragmentation of healthcare system is causing to increase the communication gap in between patient and doctor. The poor communication in between medication provider and patient, some unintentional facts like forgetfulness of any patient and some socioeconomic factors such as high cost of the medicines and illiteracy of people are the barriers for medical adherence market.

Medical adherence program have high potential to reduce the healthcare cost by improving health outcomes, it only needs to follow some implementations and patient engagement program. Improvement of adherence program will help to grow the medical adherence market.