Department of Health and Human Services June 6, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing the availability of grant funds for the continuing support of a national effort to promote the importance of medication adherence to enhance the health of Americans. Medication adherence is taking medicine as directed to treat an illness or disease in order to get the best health outcome possible for each patient. Nearly three out of four Americans report that they do not take their medication as directed. One in three people never fill their prescriptions. The annual price tag for medication adherence failure is estimated to be $290 billion, and the impact on the medical system and patients from this lack of adherence may result in relapses or recurrences of medical symptoms, increases in hospital visits, or even death. FDA is committed to addressing this issue, which has enormous implications for public health and the U.S. economy, by, in part, continuing its financial and other contributions to a carefully planned, well-executed effective national campaign begun in 2010 by the National Consumers League (NCL) called ``Script Your Future''. To continue and enhance this important public health initiative, the Division of Health Communications (DHC)/Office of Communications (OCOMM)/Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) in FDA seeks to assist the National Consumers League in the development of new online resources and tools for patients, engagement of public and private partners to build on and complement existing medication adherence programs, education of health care professionals with strategies to share with patients, continuous evaluation of the campaign to enhance and improve it, expansion of public-private partnerships, strengthening of this national forum focused on informing consumers about medication adherence, and tailoring messaging to subpopulations of consumers who may need adaptations or special efforts to inform and educate them.