Tips for overcoming nonadherence

Patient nonadherence used to just frustrate doctors. But soon it could cost them money as well.

Last year’s passage of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) raises the stakes for nonadherence. The law mandates that beginning in 2019, in order to receive reimbursement from Medicare practices will have to make a choice: either adopt an alternative payment model-such as the patient-centered medical home-or participate in the new Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). Under MIPS, physicians’ Medicare reimbursements will be tied to performance metrics in the categories of quality, resource use, clinical practice improvement, and meaningful use of electronic health records.

Can technology improve adherence?

While the government has yet to develop the rules for implementing MACRA, it’s virtually certain that under either option doctors’ reimbursements will be affected by patient outcomes-which in turn depend heavily on patients’ willingness and ability to follow treatment plans, says Emmy Ganos, PhD, of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“To the extent that payment is tied to the types of metrics having to do with health outcomes, then it will be important for doctors to do a good job of making sure the care plans they develop in partnership with patients meet their patients’ needs and lead to the outcomes they want,” Ganos says.

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