Compliance of Patient.

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Compliance of Patient

Those patients who do not follow a specified treatment regimen are considered noncompliant. With respect to patient care, the accuracy of a medical diagnosis and the choice of a treatment regimen often are perceived by patients to be more a result of serendipity than rational analysis. This easily can lead to frustration and confusion for the recipient of care. Moreover, patients are not inclined to always follow their treatment protocols and therefore it imposes negative tension in patient-provider relationship.  Noncompliance by patients may lead to poor health care outcomes, including a more rapid progression by the patient to the next severity level of the disease, higher costs of treatment as the disease becomes more complicated due to intervening medical conditions, potential malpractice exposure for the health care provider and facility, dissatisfaction expressed by the patient regarding a perceived lack of concern for quality of care.  Patient noncompliance or an unwillingness to follow a prescribed treatment plan often results from broad factors such as an established comfort level with the current stage of the disease and a lack of acceptance of the purpose of a particular treatment.  For instance, a patient with a chronic disease actually may establish a comfort level with the current stage of the disease.  In contemporary context, the awareness that patients often are not compliant with their health care advice, coupled with the realization that this behavior has costly implications, both for managed care and society as a whole, has led to different proactive approaches in managing the patient-provider relationship. This awareness has led to a shift from treating the patient as a passive pill-taker to treating the patient as an active participant in decision-making.  It also is seen in a shift from treating the healthcare provider passively accepting noncompliance to managing patient interaction actively.  

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Health plans and systems are turning to primary care providers to follow up more actively with patients who fail to return for treatment. Often, the process requires an organization to identify members and patients, educate and train patients to be aware of their health care needs, and conform to patient privacy as an important factor of one’s compliance. The majority of managed care executives and physicians typically agree that educated patients are often happier and more compliant than their uneducated counterparts, with better chances for successful treatment outcomes. In that light, it would appear that the futures of direct-to-patient and ...

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