Improving adherence also enhances patients’ safety – Because most of the care needed for chronic conditions is based on patient self-management (usually requiring complex multitherapies), use of medical technology for monitoring, and changes in the patient’s lifestyle, patients face several potentially life-threatening risks if not appropriately supported by the health system.
Adherence is an important modifier of health system effectiveness –Health outcomes cannot be accurately assessed if they are measured predominantly by resource utilization indicators and efficacy of interventions. The population health outcomes predicted by treatment efficacy data cannot be achieved unless adherence rates are used to inform planning and project evaluation.
Increasing the effectiveness of adherence interventions may have a far greater impact on the health of the population than any improvement in specific medical treatments –Studies consistently find significant cost-savings and increases in the effectiveness of health interventions that are attributable to low-cost interventions for improving adherence. Without a system that addresses the determinants of adherence, advances in biomedical technology will fail to realise their potential to reduce the burden of chronic illness. Access to medications is necessary but insufficient in itself for the successful treatment of disease.
