"Adherence to Medical and Health Advice: Barriers and Options for Success"
Thursday, November 19, 2008
Mandarin Oriental Hotel
1330 Maryland Ave., SW
Washington, D.C. 20024
8:00 a.m.- 3:00 p.m.
To view a draft agenda, click here.
The Society for Women's Health Research is pleased to invite you to the Annual Corporate Advisory Council Meeting scheduled for Thursday, November 19. The meeting will be hosted at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, D.C.
The topic of this year’s meeting is: "Adherence to Medical and Health Advice: Barriers and Options for Success.” The meeting will begin with an overview of the issues, followed by panels featuring speakers from the health care industry, patient organizations, academia and the government.
Adherence to medical recommendations has been defined as the extent to which a person's behavior coincides with medical or health advice, such as taking medication correctly and regularly, returning to a healthcare provider’s office for follow-up appointments, and observing preventive and healthful lifestyle changes.
Studies of non-adherence indicate that 1/3 to 1/2 of patients do not fully follow their provider’s medical advice and most researchers agree that at least half of all patients do not take their prescribed medications correctly. Adherence to lifestyle regimens such as diet and exercise is far worse. Non-adherence for any health condition or disease may negatively impact the health outcome, but this is particularly true for chronic conditions.
People with chronic and complex diseases account for over 90% of drug costs and about 75% of medical expenses. In the U. S., medication-related hospital admissions due to poor adherence are estimated to cost $100 billion a year.
Why does the Society for Women’s Health Research care about adherence? Women use more medical services throughout their lives. Women suffer from more chronic conditions than men, are given more medications, require more office visits and receive more advice on lifestyle choices. The failure to adhere to medical recommendations represents a serious health risk for women (52% of the US population) in terms of worsening of disease and an unsatisfactory quality of life, not to mention increased health care costs.
The 2009 annual Corporate Advisory Council meeting will discuss what we know about adherence, the reasons for non-adherence and suggest some solutions for increasing adherence to medical regimens. Several examples of what some organizations and businesses are doing to increase adherence will be highlighted.
