Medication adherence plays a critical role in achieving positive patient outcomes. But what if better communication and transparency—powered by technology—could help patients stay on track and reduce out-of-pocket costs?
Prescribing medications is only half the battle for healthcare providers. The other half is ensuring patients actually pick them up and adhere to them. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), nearly a quarter of prescriptions are never filled, and cost is a leading reason.
Medication adherence plays a critical role in achieving positive patient outcomes. But what if better communication and transparency—powered by technology—could help patients stay on track and reduce out-of-pocket costs?
Below, we’ll explore how tech is stepping in to close these gaps, what healthcare teams need to pay attention to, and how leading technology tools (like RXNT’s RXnotify) are helping providers support patients beyond the point of prescribing.
The Disconnect Between Providers and Patients at the Pharmacy
There’s a surprising amount of confusion that can happen after a prescription is sent, and it can interfere with a patient’s healthcare journey.
Even with the use of e-prescribing, some patients don’t know when their prescription is ready, how much it will cost, or what’s holding things up. These communication gaps can lead to delays, skipped doses, or full-on medication abandonment. About 9% of prescriptions are never picked up, and when the price of medications goes above $500 or more, nearly 60% get left behind.
Cost is a huge driver behind that abandonment. A CDC report found that 8.2% of U.S. adults under 65 didn’t take their medications as prescribed to save money—that includes skipping doses or delaying refills. And for people without insurance, that number jumped to nearly one in four. The problem is also being seen increasingly among seniors as well: 20% of adults 65 and older said they’ve skipped medications because of the cost.
It’s not always just the price. Insurance hurdles like prior authorizations can delay access to needed medications. One source found that 44% of patients dealing with these delays waited over a week, and 40% of those prescriptions were never picked up.
Put simply, the journey from the exam room to the pharmacy counter is often a black box for patients, and that disconnect can have serious consequences.
The good news is that technology is changing this.
Bringing Clarity and Savings to the Pharmacy
Innovations in online prescription platforms, patient engagement apps, and real-time benefit tools are changing prescription transparency and patient outcomes. Here’s how:
- Prescription Updates and Info
Patients often assume that a prescription will be ready within 15 minutes—but that’s rarely the case. By providing real-time notifications when a prescription is sent and to which pharmacy, practices can better manage expectations and reduce unnecessary pharmacy callbacks.
- Reduce Manual Follow-Ups and Phone Tag
Without technology, practices are left playing catch-up and fielding calls from pharmacies and patients who are in the dark. Providing convenient prescription info reduces these disruptions, frees up staff time, and improves the patient experience.
- Help Patients Cut Costs
Prescription costs can be high and sometimes unpredictable, especially for patients who lack insurance coverage. Integrated tools like RXnotify help provide pharmacy coupons directly to patients without any additional effort from healthcare providers.
- Improved Adherence and Long-Term Outcomes
When patients know what their medication is for, when it’s ready, and how much it costs, they’re more likely to stick to it. And that matters: nonadherence leads to 125,000 preventable deaths and up to 25% of hospitalizations in the U.S. every year. Tech that keeps patients in the loop—like prescription notifications—can boost adherence, support better long-term health, and help reduce avoidable healthcare costs.
Empowering Patients Starts with Better Communication
As someone who’s spent years in both clinical care and health tech, I know how frustrating it can be to do everything right. Diagnose, prescribe, then send it off; only to find out the patient never picked it up. A lot of the time, it’s not resistance. It’s confusion, delays, or sticker shock at the pharmacy.
That’s why we built RXnotify.
It gives patients a heads-up when their prescription is sent, tells them where it’s going, and even includes pharmacy saving; all without adding steps for the provider. It’s simple, but it solves a problem that shows up in nearly every practice: patients falling off the radar once they leave the exam room.
We designed RXnotify to make things easier on both sides of the counter. Fewer phone calls. Fewer delays. More meds actually making it home.
Want to see how RXnotify works? Schedule a demo to see how our tool can help your patients save money and your practice save time.
