Kay Hagan: “today, I am proud to introduce the Medication Therapy Management, MTM, Expanded Benefits Act of 2010, with my colleague…”

“today, I am proud to introduce the Medication Therapy Management, MTM, Expanded Benefits Act of 2010, with my colleague from Minnesota, Senator Franken. A recent analysis conducted by the New England Healthcare Institute estimates that the overall cost of medication nonadherence is as much as $290 billion per year. According to a recent article published in the New England Journal of Medicine, over $100 billion is spent annually on avoidable hospitalizations because patients do not take their medications correctly. Not only does nonadherence cost our system billions of dollars, nonadherence to medication regimens also affects the quality of life for seniors and may lead to early death. The elderly typically take many more prescription medicines than the general population and therefore are at greater risk for problems associated with improper use of medications. For example, the same New England Journal of Medicine article I just reference found that better adherence to antihypertensive treatment alone could prevent 89,000 premature deaths in the U.S. annually. With as much as one half of all patients in the U.S. not following their doctors' orders regarding their medications, medication therapy management could help reduce some of the wasted health care costs in our system. North Carolina has implemented some very successful MTM programs.…”