ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores Foundation has contributed $1 million to a campaign by the National Consumers League (NCL) to boost consumer awareness of the health benefits of medication adherence.
NACDS said Wednesday that the NCL’s multimedia effort, due to launch next spring, will target people with chronic conditions and health care practitioners, with additional intensive outreach in a handful of markets nationwide, to "alert consumers to the reality of the health and financial costs of not taking medications correctly."
With initial planning funding from the Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the NCL medication adherence awareness campaign includes more than 100 stakeholders from public and private advocacy organizations, government agencies and corporations. The NACDS Foundation said it has been an active participant in campaign planning, which began in 2008 and will continue through this winter.
"Poor medication adherence is costing individuals their good health and our nation billions. NACDS Foundation’s generous contribution will help us take the campaign to the next level and make a real difference in consumers’ lives," Sally Greenberg, executive director of NCL, said in a statement. "NCL’s long history of successful initiatives helping consumers take medications safely, as well as our proven ability to identify areas of common concern among disparate groups, uniquely qualifies us to lead this campaign."
NACDS reported that nearly three out of four Americans don’t take their medicines as prescribed, and almost half suffer from one or more chronic diseases that need medication therapy. Nonadherence is estimated to cost the nation $290 billion annually in increased hospitalizations, doctor and emergency room visits, and factors related to preventable disease progression, according to a July 2009 report by the New England Healthcare Institute (NEHI).
"Helping to raise public awareness about the importance of taking prescriptions as prescribed by their doctors is one of our top priorities at the NACDS Foundation, and we are proud to be a major supporter of the campaign," stated Edith Rosato, president of the NACDS Foundation. "It is vital to public health to chip away at the hurdles preventing consumers from taking medication as prescribed and improving their health and lowering overall health care costs. The foundation looks forward to actively engaging in the campaign and helping to ensure its success."
