Tailoring Your Communication Could be the Solution to Medication Nonadherence

Improving Hypertension _ Diabetes Control and Prevention

want to improve patient medication adherence rates?: Tailoring your Communication Could be the Solution

Six Simple Ways to Improve Medication Adherence

Research shows that up to half of medications are not taken as prescribed. One Vermont-based practice focused on improving its communication with patients to improve medication adherence. The practice developed a set of seven key questions and six recommended communication techniques that helped to improved adherence. Read more in this American Academy of Family Practice web article.

Talk Before You Take

The Talk Before You Take campaign addresses communication gaps and encourages informed patient and healthcare provider engagement and conversation about medicine uses, anticipated benefits and potential risks. This research-based program was created by BeMed Wise at NeedyMeds (formerly National Council on Patient Information and Education) and offers free, downloadable education tools in English and Spanish designed to promote effective patient-provider communication about prescriptions. Incorporating these tips will help your patients improve medication adherence, understand side effects, avoid adverse drug reactions, and live healthier lives.

The Value of Assessing Health Literacy

Assessing a patient's health literacy, defined as the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions, can be a vital first step in gauging what type of communication will best meet the needs of the patients.

Consider these resources to learn more about how you can incorporate health literacy in your practice:

National Network of Libraries of Medicine's (NNLM) recording: Effective Health Communication and Health Literacy on YouTube
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Health Literacy Library: Created to help healthcare professionals and delivery organizations make information easier to understand and systems easier to navigate
CDC Train Online Course: Culture & Health Literacy: Beyond Access: Discusses how inequalities in health information contribute to unequal treatment and health outcomes for some populations (health disparities) and what communities can do to close the gap and improve health literacy

million hearts® tip sheet: IMPROVING MEDICATION ADHERENCE AMONG PATIENTS WITH HYPERTENSION

Million Hearts® 2022, a national initiative to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes within five years, supports the implementation of a small set of evidence-based priorities and targets that can improve cardiovascular health for all.

One area of focus for this campaign is medication adherence. High adherence to antihypertensive medication is associated with higher odds of blood pressure control, but non-adherence to cardioprotective medications increases a patient's risk of death from 50% to 80%.

As a health care professional, you can empower patients to take their medications as prescribed. Effective two-way communication is critical; in fact, it doubles the odds of your patients taking their medications properly.

Million Hearts® 2022 encourages the use of the SIMPLE method to help improve medication adherence among your patients with hypertension. Download the Medication Adherence Tip Sheet to learn more.

diabetes education program: Resources your practice can use to Develop a Diabetes Self-Management and Support Program

American Diabetes Association (ADA) and American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) describe two types of accredited/recognized programs to help you meet your patients' diabetes education needs. Each DSMES program is assigned as a primary multi-site with one program coordinator, and additional sites can be added as multi-site or expansions. Details and frequently asked questions are available from the ADA and the AADE.

Contact your Quality Insights Practice Transformation Specialist for additional assistance.

e-learning: education at your fingertips

Live HRSA Webinar: January 15, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. - Breaking the Cycle of Intergenerational Diabetes
2018 AMA Doc Talk Episode Podcast: Building Trust to Support Medication Adherence:
ReachMD On-Demand Webinar: Helping to Improve Medication Adherence: Communication Strategies
On-Demand Webinar: Addressing Health Literacy Through Patient and Family Engagement: Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative

mark your calendar: upcoming events

Do you know about a local diabetes prevention or hypertension events taking place near you? Email details to Ashley Biscardi i f you'd like to have it featured in our upcoming newsletters.

January 13: Newark, DE: YMCA DPP Start Date at Newark Senior Center
January 14: Newark, DE: YMCA DPP Start Date at Western YMCA
February 3: Dover, DE: YMCA DPP Start Date at Modern Maturity Center
February 22: Wilmington, DE: AHA Wilmington Heart Ball
May 13: Wilmington, DE: AHA Go Red for Women Luncheon

contact information

For more details about the Improving Hypertension and Diabetes Care & Prevention project, please contact Ashley Biscardi, Sarah Toborowski, and Danielle Nugent.

This publication was supported by the Cooperative Agreement Number NU58DP2018006563 from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Publication number: DEDPH-HD-011020