I saw the article below over the weekend and wasn’t sure how I felt about it. On one hand it’s a good thing for people to adhere to their medication regimens. Medication adherence ultimately leads to lower overall healthcare costs secondary to fewer hospital admissions, fewer lost days to chronic disease “flare-ups”, fewer re-treatments or extended antibiotic courses, and so on. When you think about it like that, it makes sense. On the other hand, you’re telling people that there are no consequences for their own bad behavior. Hey, if you don’t take your medication that’s ok. We’ll give you money each time you do to “encourage you” to do it.
According to the article “cross-study comparisons indicate a positive relationship between the value of the incentive and the impact of the intervention“. So, the more “incentive” I give you the more likely you are to take your medication. Not surprising.
What ever happened to just being a good citizen and doing the right thing? Civic responsibility?