If the end justifies the means, then why not pay patients to take their medicine? The statistics are startling – 33% to 50% of patients don’t take their medications and 25% never get them filled causing an additional $100 billion in health care expenses.

Some people might find this approach to health care cost containment a little extreme – after all, if someone chooses not to take medications, why should we care? Besides, won’t this in fact reward negative behavior?

It might if we respond emotionally rather than rationally. I’m reminded of one diabetic patient whose A1c is back up to 12% from 9.3%. Given what lies in store for her if she doesn’t get her numbers better controlled (blindness, kidney failure, MI or stroke), I would totally support rewarding her for taking her meds regularly.

To read more about this novel approach, follow this link to the New York Times article by Pam Belluck.