Improving diabetes medication adherence: successful, scalable interventions

Leah L Zullig; Walid F Gellad; Jivan Moaddeb; Matthew J Crowley; William Shrank; Bradi B Granger; Christopher B Granger; Troy Trygstad; Larry Z Liu; Hayden B Bosworth

doi:10.2147/PPA.S69651

Improving diabetes medication adherence: successful, scalable interventions

Patient Prefer Adherence. 2015 Jan 23:9:139-49. doi: 10.2147/PPA.S69651. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Center for Health Services Research in Primary Care, Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA ; Department of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
² Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, Pittsburgh Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA ; Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
³ Department of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA ; Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
⁴ CVS Caremark Corporation, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
⁵ School of Nursing, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
⁶ Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.
⁷ North Carolina Community Care Networks, Raleigh, NC, USA.
⁸ Pfizer, Inc., and Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY, USA.
⁹ Center for Health Services Research in Primary Care, Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA ; Department of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA ; School of Nursing, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA ; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.

Abstract

Effective medications are a cornerstone of prevention and disease treatment, yet only about half of patients take their medications as prescribed, resulting in a common and costly public health challenge for the US health care system. Since poor medication adherence is a complex problem with many contributing causes, there is no one universal solution. This paper describes interventions that were not only effective in improving medication adherence among patients with diabetes, but were also potentially scalable (ie, easy to implement to a large population). We identify key characteristics that make these interventions effective and scalable. This information is intended to inform health care systems seeking proven, low resource, cost-effective solutions to improve medication adherence.

Keywords: chronic disease; diabetes mellitus; dissemination research; implementation research; medication adherence; review.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

CDA 13-025/HX/HSRD VA/United States