Script Your Future
NATIONAL MEDICATION ADHERENCE CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW
Poor Medication Adherence is a National Problem.
Nearly three out of four Americans report that they do not always take their medications as directed. Poor adherence leads to serious health consequences and avoidable costs. And, as more and more Americans are affected by at least one chronic condition, the costs for patients and the health care system continue to grow. Yet too many Americans don’t understand the consequences of poor adherence.
Improved medication adherence leads to cost savings. Patients with chronic conditions who are adherent to their medications have fewer emergency department visits and hospitalizations than patients who are not adherent, saving as much as $7,800 per patient annually in overall health care costs.
And, every additional dollar spent on improving adherence saves in medical costs – saving $7 in medical costs for people with diabetes; $5 in medical costs for people with high cholesterol, and $4 in medical costs for people with high blood pressure.
The nation needs a comprehensive, integrated campaign to raise awareness of this critical public health issue.
Script Your Future Campaign Raises Awareness
The National Consumers League (NCL) has developed and is leading Script Your Future, a campaign that is educating consumers, their family caregivers, and health care professionals about the importance of taking medications as directed. Such awareness is a vital first step toward better health outcomes.
The three-year Script Your Future campaign focuses on patients affected by three serious chronic conditions—diabetes, respiratory disease and cardiovascular disease. Script Your Future provides practical tools that help patients and health care professionals better communicate about ways to improve medication adherence, and works to:
• Raise awareness of the problem of poor medication adherence through a coordinated public education effort
• Engage diverse public and private partners to build on and complement existing medication adherence programs
For more information on the campaign, please visit ScriptYourFuture.org or contact Larry Bostian at larryb@nclnet.org
Script Your Future is a campaign of the National Consumers League 2013
• Promote a new interactive consumer website to help support medication adherence among patients with chronic disease (ScriptYourFuture.org)
• Provide health care professionals with online resources and tools to share with their patients and help them get involved in the campaign
• Encourage health care professionals and patients to talk about adherence
The campaign launched in May 2011 and includes a national communications initiative and targeted outreach efforts in six cities:
• Baltimore, MD
• Birmingham, AL
• Cincinnati, OH
• Providence, RI
• Raleigh, NC
• Sacramento, CA
Campaign Leadership and Committed Partners
The campaign’s strength lies in the active commitment and engagement of the more than 130 Committed Partners, public and private. These stakeholder groups helped to shape the campaign through an extensive participatory planning process supported in part by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Committed Partners include associations of health care professionals, pharmacies, patient groups, insurers and other businesses, as well as government agencies and researchers. (For a full list, please visit ScriptYourFuture.org.) Partner organizations participate in campaign activities both nationally and in the six target markets; join working group on Chronic Condition Outreach, Health Care Professional Outreach, and Campaign Evaluation; and make financial and in-kind contributions. NCL coordinates all campaign activities, including overseeing the work of the six target market Script Your Future coalitions and their field organizers.
Script Your Future is benefiting from the participation of U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin and from the strong partnerships NCL has forged with Million Hearts™, a joint CMS-CDC initiative, and with FDA’s Safe Use Initiative.
Measuring the Impact of the Campaign
This campaign will measure awareness of medication adherence – both nationally and in select target markets. Before the campaign launched in 2011 a baseline survey was conducted nationally and in the six target cities, to measure consumers’ awareness of medication adherence as a health issue. The survey will be replicated at the end of the campaign and the results compared. In addition, the campaign’s Evaluation working group is exploring other ways to assess the campaign’s impact.
Ways to Get Involved
• Participate: Become a Committed Partner and take part in campaign working groups, local coalitions, and campaign events
• Share: Co-brand materials and disseminate to consumers; share information through internal networks
• Connect: Identify and introduce NCL to potential Committed Partners
• Contribute: Financial and in-kind contributions for ongoing operations
For more information on the campaign, please visit ScriptYourFuture.org or contact Larry Bostian at larryb@nclnet.org
Script Your Future is a campaign of the National Consumers League