Cincinnati 1st city to join national "Script Your Future" medication adherence campaign

May 18, 2011 - PRLog -- CINCINNATI -- On Wednesday, May 18, 2011, Cincinnati will launch local efforts, as part of a national campaign to educate consumers on the importance of medication adherence. A newly formed coalition of health-care professionals, hospitals, non-profits, governmental agencies and employers will join the National Consumers League (NCL) today, to launch Script Your Future, in Cincinnati to raise awareness among patients about the health consequences of not taking medication as directed. More than one-third of medicine-related hospitalizations, and almost 125,000 deaths in the United States each year, is due to people not taking their medicine as directed.

“Non-adherence to medication is a major public health concern,” said Rebecca Burkholder, vice president of health policy, NCL.  “The Script Your Future campaign will bring tools and resources together in the region and provide residents with education that ultimately will improve medication adherence and lead to Cincinnatians living healthier lives.”

The U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Regina M. Benjamin, helped kick off the national campaign on May 11, 2011, in Washington, D.C.

Medication adherence is part of the surgeon general’s prevention focus. “Our national challenge is to prevent poor health outcomes and to become a healthy and fit nation. One way is for the health-care community and patients to come together to address the serious issue of medication non-adherence,” Dr. Benjamin said. “As a family physician, I know that conversations between clinicians and their patients are key to patients understanding why taking their medication correctly is so important, particularly in chronic health conditions such as diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure. The tools offered through NCL’s Script Your Future campaign empower patients to talk with their health-care teams about their medication questions and concerns.”

Campaign efforts in Cincinnati are just underway. Script Your Future aims to educate and offer practical tools for patients, such as:  free text message reminders, sample questions to ask during doctor visits, medication lists, condition management sheets, and fact sheets on common chronic conditions, and can all be found on the campaign website, www.ScriptYourFuture.org.

“There are many different reasons why people don’t take their medicine as directed, from concerns about side effects to the out-of-pocket costs of prescriptions. But the consequences for patients are the same. Non-adherence puts patients, especially those with chronic conditions, at risk for serious complications,” said Sally Greenberg, executive director of NCL, the nation’s oldest consumer group.

The Script Your Future campaign is dedicated to promoting medication adherence education and awareness nationwide. Cincinnati is the first of six regional city markets to launch the campaign’s pilot activities, research and advertising. The other regional markets are: Baltimore; Birmingham, Ala.; Providence, R.I.; Raleigh, N.C.; and Sacramento, Calif. To learn more about the campaign, go to http://www.ScriptYourFuture.org.

Script Your Future is a campaign of the National Consumers League (NCL), a private, non-profit membership organization founded in 1899. For more information about the Script Your Future campaign, visit http://www.ScriptYourFuture.org.  For more information on NCL, please visit http://www.nclnet.org.

Cincinnati Coalition Members (as of May 18, 2011)

James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy, University of Cincinnati
Academic Health Center, University of Cincinnati
Employers Health of Ohio
The Kroger. Co.
Health Improvement Collaborative
Greater Cincinnati Health Council
American Diabetes Association, Cincinnati chapter
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
CVS/Caremark
Abbott
Health Care Access Now
Ohio Pharmacists Association
The office of the Hon. Sherrod Brown, U.S. Senator
Viable Synergy
Madison & Associates