HJR267 Summary

• Recognizes March 18, 2014, as Medication Adherence Day at the Alabama State Capitol.

• Identifies poor medication adherence as a national health problem costing an estimated $300 billion annually to the U.S. health system.

• States that one in three people never fill prescriptions, half of chronic disease patients stop medication within one year, and 125,000 Americans die yearly from non-adherence.

• Notes that poor medication adherence is linked to 23 percent of nursing home admissions and up to 69 percent of medication-related hospital admissions.

• Urges all Alabamians to take their medication as directed and highlights that improved adherence would reduce heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure, and deaths from untreated chronic diseases.