About half of all prescriptions in the U.S. aren’t taken as prescribed.¹ Poor adherence is behind an estimated one-third to two-thirds of medication-related hospital stays¹ and is estimated to cost the U.S. health system $100 billion to $289 billion a year.² The most common reason isn’t refusal. It’s forgetting: in one large survey, 62% of adults with a chronic condition said they had forgotten a dose.³ 

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The most common fix in the research is also the simplest: a reminder at the right moment. A review of 16 randomized trials found that people who received reminder messages took their medication more consistently,⁴ and the Community Preventive Services Task Force recommends reminders for people with ongoing conditions.⁵ Having someone else in the loop helps too: across 122 studies, people with practical support from family or friends were more likely to stay on their medication.⁶