A "credit score" for taking your medicine? No, this is not a joke.

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

I already hate FICO and this doesn't help much:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/0...ef=todayspaper

I was discussing this on another forum and the general consensus there is this information will eventually find its way to insurers who will use it to justify denying treatment and/or medications to individuals who need it, on the basis their "score" indicates they don't take the meds they are supposed to.

I'm inclined to agree and that scares the crap out of me.

[anakhouri]

I feel pretty strongly about people taking their meds correctly (stop taking your antibiotics before the run is up and create a superbug!) but this is going way too far. People need to learn to be responsible about their medications but it's no one's job to police them about it.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Well, considering that a dermatologist prescribed some shit with a black box warning on it to treat a minor rash that didn't really bother me (and that I got rid of the sensible way, by getting rid of what was causing it, imagine that.) that I didn't take (needless to say), this is rich.

[Greenday]

How would this even be legal? Can your medical information be given out like this? How would they keep track of who takes medicine properly?

[Andara Bledin]

How does a database filled with people who have life-affecting diseases that require semi-constant monitoring mean anything for people who have one-off situations, such as, say, a sinus infection? And wouldn't it be pretty much impossible to track asthma patients accurately due to the situational nature of their affliction, so that data would be haphazard, at best.

So, let's see, the less-educated and those without a support network are at most risk for not taking their meds or taking them incorrectly. We need a database to predict this? And the young (they think they're immortal) and the elderly (they often suffer memory issues) are more likely to have problems, too. Shocking.

Although it is heartening to see that the people working on the data note that education is really the most important way to improve scores across the board.

People need to learn to be responsible about their medications but it's no one's job to police them about it.

Considering that this is supposed to be a tool for medical professionals such as your doctor or medical provider so that they can target things such as follow-up calls and reminders to those most likely to benefit, it kind of is their (the medical people) job to see that you're doing it right.

Plus, there's no actual policing going on. It's basic profiling based mostly on already-public data, with most of the conclusions being pretty much what you'd expect.

Also, considering that this is partially aimed at insurance companies, there is no eventual about when they'll have the scores in hand.

^-.-^

[AdminAssistant]

They aren't given any of your medical information. It's risk assessment based purely on age, gender, marital status, employment, etc. If you're marked as being "high-risk", such as a college student or an elderly person, then they call you to remind you to follow your doctor's orders.

I don't see this doing much good, but I don't see great harm in it either. HIPPA protects your medical information and it's not going away anytime soon.

[Andara Bledin]

How would this even be legal? Can your medical information be given out like this? How would they keep track of who takes medicine properly?

Were you unable to reach the article or did you just not understand it?

As it said, it was research that determined what types of people made or missed appointments, which filled their prescriptions and which didn't or waited to do so or called them in but never picked them up, which came in or blew off follow-up visits, etc.

It doesn't actually rely on medical history, but on a random sampling from a large pharmacy benefits manager.

^-.-^

[HYHYBT]

The trouble, as so often happens, comes not from the claimed intended use but from the ways it can be misused in the future. Just as credit scores are supposed to be for issuing credit, but they're routinely misused for all manner of other purposes such as employment and insurance (OUGHT to be illegal, but of course isn't and won't be) it's hard to believe this wouldn't lead to basing rates on their wild guess of whether you'll take your pills or not.

[Andara Bledin]

Considering that the data comes from an insurer to begin with, and that this is data they already use to set rates, I really don't think this will actually change anything at all but which people tend to get calls and reminders.

^-.-^

[Greenday]

Were you unable to reach the article or did you just not understand it?

As it said, it was research that determined what types of people made or missed appointments, which filled their prescriptions and which didn't or waited to do so or called them in but never picked them up, which came in or blew off follow-up visits, etc.

It doesn't actually rely on medical history, but on a random sampling from a large pharmacy benefits manager.

^-.-^

It just didn't make sense to me that there was another way to get an accurate reading on people. If I get mail because males 18-25 generally don't take meds properly (just making that up), I'm going to be pissed that I'm getting junk mail. I just don't see how they can actually get a serious idea of who takes their pills correctly.

[Andara Bledin]

So... Would you be pissed that your doctor or HMO would send you mail about taking your medicine and remembering to renew your prescription? Because that's the target user for the rating system.

As for unwanted spam, this is fairly unlikely to add to it; the people who send junk mail already send you their crap. Most of them don't seem to care whether you're part of the target audience or not. As an example, my ex has been getting AARP crap since he was 25 and I, a very white woman, get catalogs aimed at black women.

^-.-^

[Greenday]

So... Would you be pissed that your doctor or HMO would send you mail about taking your medicine and remembering to renew your prescription? Because that's the target user for the rating system.

Yep, I'd be annoyed about that. Mail isn't going to make me remember to take it. The only way I can take pills is as part of my routine. Like right now, every day immediately after lunch, I go back to my room and take my doxycyclene and daily vitamin. I don't want mail about personal stuff (meds I may be on) to be circulated around for people I don't want to see. Odds are, no one will look at it, but the less personal information out there, the better.

[BlaqueKatt]

Like right now, every day immediately after lunch, I go back to my room and take my doxycyclene and daily vitamin.

you may wish to consult a health care professional about that...

Take doxycycline 2 hours before or 3 hours after iron preparations and vitamin products that contain iron.-ergo if your vitamin has iron in it you are not taking it correctly......point proven....

[Andara Bledin]

Hardly anybody takes the time to understand vitamin supplement interactions. They just down a multi-vitamin with little to no research into what's in it.

^-.-^

[BlaqueKatt]

They just down a multi-vitamin with little to no research into what's in it.

which is why I only take the whopping two types that my physician has informed me I actually need(low levels determined by bloodwork), in a bio-available form, and with the foods that contain what my body requires to make efficient use of them. Yup I am quite aware one's body can only process certain vitamins and minerals in the presence of others. I also don't take them daily, supplements are just that*, not part of a daily routine, if they are needed daily, outside of a diagnosed health issue, maybe you need to examine your diet. Because quite simply most multi-vitamins have 100% or more of an adult's recommended daily allowance of vitamins and minerals-so if your diet is lacking all of that, yeah that is not at all good....and neither is overworking your liver and kidneys to filter all that excess out.

*supplement-an addition designed to complete, make up for a deficiency.