What would have happened if all patients had taken their medications the way the doctor had prescribed, and the doctors would have prescribed only inexpensive generic drugs?.

This question was asked by researchers from CVS Caremark (USA), and concluded that America could save billions on health care.

In medicine, compliance (adherence, adherence to treatment regimen) is an important factor determining the outcome of therapy and other consequences for the patient. If the doctor indicated that the drug should be taken 3 times daily before meals for 7 consecutive days, then exactly the patient should do it in 100% of cases.

If the patient can not comply with the scheme (for example, intolerance of the drug), he should immediately inform the doctor about it, and not interrupt the treatment and wait for the next visit.

The authors of the report used the data of the pharmaceutical business for 2012 from CVS Caremark PBM.

The report contains an approximate estimate of the potential savings in each US state after an analysis of the level of compliance, as well as the use of generic drugs for the treatment of four physical and mental diseases:.

• Diabetes.

• Arterial hypertension.

• Hypercholesterolemia.

• Clinical depression.

The report says: "The potential annual savings for different states range from 19 million (Wyoming) to 2.1 billion (Texas) dollars, based on the detailed characteristics of each state".

Huge savings on generics.

If American doctors switch to cheaper generic drugs, the country will save about $ 13.4 billion on medicines. Brennan, vice president of CVS Caremark, argues that the vast majority of patients on expensive brand drugs never even tried cheap generics.

Below are the approximate sizes of annual savings in the transition to generics:.

• Texas: 1.4 billion.

• California: 1.2 billion.

• New Jersey: 837 million.

• Pennsylvania: 734 million.

• New York: 716 million.

• Tennessee: 651 million.

• Florida: 579 million.

• Illinois: 549 million.

• Ohio: 545 million.

• Massachusetts: 529 million.

The savings with increasing compliance.

Representatives of CVS Caremark say that communication between a patient and a pharmacist directly at the pharmacy can give a lot in terms of improving compliance. And here a lot depends on the policy of pharmacy chains.

The figures below show how much money could be saved in only 10 states, maximizing the compliance of patients:.

• Texas: 686 million.

• California: 652 million.

• Tennessee: 390 million.

• Massachusetts: 310 million.

• Pennsylvania: 281 million.

• South Carolina: 281 million.

• New York: 276 million.

• New Jersey: 265 million.

• Ohio: 261 million.

• Florida: 260 million.

Researchers from the Institute for Health Informatization previously reported that the US health system annually loses about $ 200 billion due to inefficient use of medicines. In connection with this, we mention another study published in January 2013, according to which the transition to generics only in patients with HIV / AIDS would help save $ 42,500 per person per year.

The main factors that contribute to the over-expenditure of funds in health care:.

• Insufficient compliance.

• Medical errors.

• Late introduction of scientific developments.

• Insufficient use of generic drugs.

• Irrational administration of antibiotics.

• Poor control when administering several drugs.

This list may seem very familiar not only to American doctors.

An excuse to ponder, is not it?.

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