Most people do not follow the medications
It is common knowledge that the credit rating agencies track the credit scores of the American citizens. Similarly, a new company is planning to track the consumption patterns of patients who are prescribed certain medications. The irregular usage of medications by nearly sixty-seven percent of the population results in over 125,000 people dying each year.
Reasons why patients do not adhere to the prescription
According to a survey undertaken by the National Consumers League, one patient amongst three do not ever fill out the physician’s prescriptions. Other patients do not procure the prescribed drugs from the pharmacies. Additionally, several patients forget their dosages, or take the dose at irregular timings. Finally, there are patients who consume either too many or too few of the medications that have been prescribed by the physicians.
FICO’s new scheme to track prescription medications
FICO, which is one of the leading credit rating agencies in the USA, plans to come out with a new scheme that will provide an insight to the use of prescription medications among the patients. The FICO Medication Adherence Score will be able to predict those individuals who are at a risk of skipping medications or using the prescription incorrectly. Mark Greene, who is the CEO of FICO, says that tracking such individuals is not any different from the other industries that require such scores.
Applications of the new tracking system
According to the FICO officials, the new tracking system will be beneficial to insurance companies as well as other healthcare agencies. The scores of the individuals would be used to identify patients that would need follow-ups through calls, emails, and reminder letters. These various media will be used to encourage patients from adhering to the prescription provided by the physicians. The Company expects to include between two million and three million individuals by the end of 2010. Additionally, over ten million individuals will be provided such scores during the next twelve months. FICO is in negotiation with healthcare companies that are planning to use the scoring system.
The scores will be available freely
The FICO medication score will be publicly available like home ownership and job status. In addition, the scoring system will not be dependent on the patient’s medical history or other financial information. The medication score will be calculated based on information that will collated from large pharmacies. A score of more than 400 points are at a lower probability of missing their medications. Alternatively, patients with less than 200 points are at a higher probability to miss their medications.