AstraZeneca adopts HealthHonors medication incentive program

NORWELL, Mass. Patients will soon get reminders to take their medications as prescribed from AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals.

HealthHonors announced Thursday that AstraZeneca had adopted its Dynamic Intermittent Reinforcement platform, a patient incentive program that uses intermittent reinforcement schedules to motivate patients to take their medications as prescribed.

Studies show that patients fail to take more than half of the 3.5 billion annual dispensed prescriptions as prescribed. This creates increased costs to the United States health-care system of more than $100 billion, as well as 125,000 deaths, accounting for 10 percent of all hospitalizations. A randomized study using HealthHonors’ program, however, found that patients who used it were 33 percent more likely to adhere to their prescription regimens.

“AstraZeneca is committed to finding innovative ways to help people lead healthier lives, and we believe the Dynamic Intermittent Reinforcement technology can help deliver on this goal,” said Mark Mallon, AstraZeneca’s vice president of marketing and sales operations.