Who Is in Control? The Determinants of Patient Adherence with Medication Therapy

Non-compliance with medication therapy remains an unsolved and expensive problem for health care systems around the world. Yet we know little about the factors that determine a patient's decision to follow treatment recommendations. This study uses a unique panel dataset comprising all prescription drug users, physicians, and all prescription drug sales in Denmark over seven years to analyze the contributions of doctor-, patient-, and drug-specific factors to the adherence decision. Our findings have important implications for the design of incentive schemes targeted at improving chronic disease management.