The effect of medication therapy management service combined with a national PharmaCloud system for polypharmacy patients

Polypharmacy over-burdens medical finances, increases inappropriate prescriptions, reduces patient medication adherence, and increases drug interactions [1 –5]. It is especially common in elderly patients, where the prevalence rate ranges 5%–78% depending on variations in countries, races, and study design [2,6,7]. The rates of taking more than 5 and 10 medications among Taiwanese elderly are 81% and 38%, respectively [8]. According to Taiwan's Nat ional Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) statistics, the medical expenditures for duplicate medications have exceeded US$1.2 million [9].

Source: Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine - July 5, 2016 Category: Bioinformatics Authors: Chang-Ming Chen, Li-Na Kuo, Kuei-Ju Cheng, Wan-Chen Shen, Kuan-Jen Bai, Chih-Chi Wang, Yi-Chun Chiang, Hsiang-Yin Chen Source Type: research