Online Pharmacy News -- MedPage Today (5/21, Smith) reported, “Automated phone reminders may increase the likelihood patients will take medication for chronic conditions,” explained William Vollmer, PhD, of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research. For example, “asthma patients who received calls increased adherence to inhaled corticosteroids by about two percentage points compared with patients who weren’t nagged.” Notably, the “increase was higher in men than women (at three versus one percent) and was greatest (at percent) in those over 60.” Although “on an individual basis, such an increase may seem small,” Dr. Vollmer said that “even a small change in adherence can potentially produce a big public health benefit, especially when the disease is as prevalent as asthma.” The results of the study, in which 8,600 patients either received “automated calls or [got] usual care over an 18-month period,” were presented at the ATS conference.
