How Do We Eliminate Pill Confusion?

According research conducted by the Society of General Internal Medicine 41% of seniors reported taking 5 or more prescription medications.

A pink pill, a round pill, a blue one, a purple one, one that is oval, one that is square.  These medications come in a plethora of shapes, sizes and colors that even a trained professional - let alone the chronically ill patient - can find confusing.

Medication non-adherence is a severe challenge. As cited in a Bloomberg Businessweek article:

• Nearly 3 in 4 Americans don't always take medication as directed
• More than 1 in 3 hospital admission are medication-related 
• ~125,000 premature deaths are attributed to medication non-adherence
• This is an extra cost of ~$290 billion per year to patients, insurers and government health programs

Confusion is a significant factor in non-adherence.

Pill Confusion

How do we defeat Pill Confusion? Pill Pouch seems to have triumphed.  Check it out!

Do You Know Your Community Pharmacist?

Who is your community pharmacist? Trusted adviser? Sought after resource? Part of our care network? Friend?

Some of us may not know our community pharmacist. In the advent of central-fill, home delivery prescriptions and access to information at any hour, our trusted community pharmacist may be turning into an obsolete intermediary. As a result, are we missing an opportunity for better care?

Innovations in Healthcare - Where does Disruptive Change Start?

mHealth

Health care ‘system’ seems to be an oxymoron. There is limited observable evidence that there is anything systematic about health care delivery.  Jim Champy highlighted this point in his article the Radical Rethinking Health Care Delivery. It is not systematic because it is not integrated. Because health care delivery is not integrated, it is inefficient and costly. Therefore it needs drastic and disruptive change. The proof is in the facts from an annual employer survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation:

• Employee premiums have jumped to 9% in 2011 
• Over the course of 13 years of this survey; health insurance premiums has increase by a whopping 168% in drastic comparison to workers wages and inflation which only increased 50% and 38% respectively over this same period. 

Technology and innovation has improved the efficiency and effectiveness of services in almost every industry but health care.

Baking Russian Tea Cookies & Breaking Oplatki: Making Holidays Special

The Holiday Season joins family and friends together to share tradition and build memories. This is the time of year we reconnect with those loved ones we may not see regularly—including elderly family members.

Make sure the Holidays are enjoyable for everyone. Elderly family members may require special consideration when planning your holiday celebrations. Preempt restrictions and be creative.

Be prepared. The Holidays are an opportunity to see some family we haven’t seen in a while. What seemed—to those in most regular contact—a natural, incremental physical or mental change for an aging individual may come as an alarming surprise. If you haven’t seen Aunt Eleanor in some time, her waning vision may be startling to you.

Avoid alarm by being prepared for changes. Then, take the necessary steps to see to it that your family member is being cared for by those closest to him or her. Have a conversation with the family member/s responsible for direct care. Be sure that elderly family member is being cared for appropriately.

Clear the Way. Salt the sidewalks and save a prime parking spot in the driveway for an elderly family member or the car they come in. If an elderly family member has mobility issues, make sure you’ve cleared the way within your home to navigate safely with a walker or other assistance.