July 13th, 2011 by Monica Kriete in News, Opinion
No Comments »
In Keeping Score on How You Take Your Medicine, Tara Parker-Pope of the New York Times, reports on a new initiative from the Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) known previously for its credit score ratings. FICO has developed a Medication Adherence Score, using publicly identifiable information (like employment status, age and gender) to determine a patient’s score, which it says “can predict which patients are at highest risk for skipping or incorrectly using prescription medications.”
Parker-Pope reports, “By the end of the year, an estimated two million to three million patients will have been given a FICO medication adherence score and a total of 10 million patients are expected to be scored during the next 12 months…FICO officials say insurance companies and other health care groups will use the score to identify those patients who could benefit the most from follow-up phone calls, letters and e-mails to encourage proper use of medication.”
The FICO medication adherence score has not received a universally warm reception: e-Patient Dave and Society for Participatory Medicine member Alexandra Albin point out that the score only accounts for whether prescriptions are purchased, not whether the pills have actually been taken.
In a related effort, Geisinger Health Systems and CVS Caremark are conducting a study to assess whether enhanced doctor-pharmacist communication can help with medication adherence. Shefali S. Kukarni reports in Tracking Down Patients Who Skip Their Drugs that, “The 18-month investigation will track a prescription from the moment it is submitted electronically to the pharmacy until it reaches the patient. If the patient does not pick up the prescription a ‘red flag’ or some form of notification will be sent to the doctor.”
But as Jessie Gruman recently blogged, there is no magic pill to cure poor medication adherence. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Prepared Patient Forum: What It Takes Blog*
December 22nd, 2010 by John Mandrola, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Research
No Comments »
It’s the time of the year when dietary temptations lurk around every corner of the hospital. And since completely abstaining is not always possible, the best antidote for this holiday deluge of inflammation is obvious: Exercise.
No doubt, within the boundaries of common sense, all exercise is good. But is there a best time of day to exercise?
Tara Parker-Pope’s New York Times piece suggests that the most “productive” time of day to exercise is before breakfast. In concisely reviewing a Belgian exercise physiology study, Ms. Parker-Pope points out that, in blunting the undesirable effects of a high fat and sugar diet, pre-breakast (fasting) exercise was metabolically more efficient than was exercise later in the day. That’s really good news for the overweight middle-agers who consistently say: “I really don’t eat very much. I must have a slow metabolism.”
Scientific studies are one thing, but are they validated in the court of real life? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr John M*
July 10th, 2010 by RamonaBatesMD in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Patient Interviews, True Stories
No Comments »
The New York Times has a series called “Patient Voices” which gives insights from the patients with the disease, physical and emotional changes in their lives, and accommodations made. The most recent series is on patients with alopecia (hair loss).
“The Voices of Alopecia” by Tara Parker-Pope (July 6, 2010):
This week, Patient Voices explores alopecia, an autoimmune disease that leads to a few bald patches to the loss of every hair on a person’s body.
To hear what it’s like to live with alopecia, listen to the Patient Voices audio slideshow that features adults, children and their parents who are coping with the condition.
Listen to these seven people tell what it’s like to live with alopecia:
- Matt Kelly, 43, lost his hair at age 38 over a 6 week time span.
- Jennifer DeFreece, 29, developed alopecia totalis as a child.
- Margaret Staib, 42, an artist with three daughters.
- Rafi Wasselman, 16, says his best medicine is his collection of caps.
- Maureen McGettigan, 47, began losing her hair at age 16.
- Annie Kazmi, 33, tells her daughter Noori’s story. Then Noori tells her own. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
