[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 22646]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         CAREFUL ADHERENCE TO MEDICATION THERAPIES SAVES LIVES

  (Mr. MURPHY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, failure to take prescription medications 
properly accounts for approximately 125,000 deaths, and an additional 
$100 billion per year in preventable hospitalizations, emergency 
department and repeat physician visits. Twenty-three percent of nursing 
home admissions and 10 percent of all hospital admissions result from 
patients failing to take medications properly.
  Why do they skip their medications? Some forget, some want to save 
money, some did not believe that drugs were effective. Some doubted 
they needed to take them, or experienced unwanted side effects. Much of 
this can be solved by improving communication between doctor and 
pharmacist and patient.
  Under the new Medicare bill, pharmacists will manage and monitor 
medications for patients with chronic illness. These programs have the 
potential to save billions of dollars and thousands of lives each year. 
It is a welcome addition to the Medicare bill and one that will help 
many seniors.
  To learn more about the careful adherence to medication therapies and 
how they can save lives and money, I would encourage my colleagues to 
visit my Web site at murphy.house.gov.

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