This is the sixth installment of our “Top Six Barriers to Medication Adherence” blog series. Read our introductory blog post, the article on cost and financial concerns, the post on side effects, the article on motivational gaps or the discussion on provider-related issues.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nine out of 10 adults struggle to understand and use health information.[1] Similarly, in an analysis we conducted, Health Dialog found that approximately 11% of people may not be adherent to their prescriptions because of knowledge gaps.
Knowledge gaps can derive from a variety of unique scenarios, such as:
There are a number of steps care teams can take to help people overcome knowledge gaps in medication adherence. These include:
Health Dialog offers personalized health coaching services that can address these steps, providing the opportunity to identify and close knowledge gaps, and for members to have their medication-related questions answered—outside of the office visit. Our specially trained Care Navigators can also help to demystify what can often be very complex medication directions or regimens. In addition to educational materials, Care Navigators provide connections to other resources that work best for each person to help overcome barriers to adherence.
Understanding how each individual in your population is impacted by barriers like knowledge gaps is critical to improving medication adherence results and reducing healthcare costs. With Health Dialog’s personalized approach you can help bridge the knowledge gap and improve medication adherence for your population.
In the final installment in our blog series “Top Six Barriers to Medication Adherence,” we will discuss how time management is the number one barrier to medication adherence.
[1] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Talking Points About Health Literacy. https://www.cdc.gov/healthliteracy/shareinteract/TellOthers.html#:~:text=Nearly%20nine%20out%20of%2010,than%20necessary%20morbidity%20and%20mortality.