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Lower Drug Costs Improves Adherence Among Heart Attack Survivors
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Reducing financial barriers may increase the use of evidence-based treatments and improve adherence to medications.
Research presented by the Duke Clinical Research Institute at the 67th American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session found that heart attack survivors are more likely to comply with drug regimens if vouchers waive co-payments.
The finding is based on a study, known as ARTEMIS, of 11,001 people treated for myocardial infarction (MI) at 300 US hospitals between June 2015-2016. All of the patients studied had health insurance - 64% had private insurance, 42% were covered by Medicare and 9% Medicaid.
"Our study confirms some of our thoughts on how drug prices affect doctors and patients behaviors," lead author Tracy Wang, MD, associate professor of medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, said in a statement.
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