Adherence promotion strategy reduces costs, improves outcomes for adolescent transplant recipients

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Feb 27 2022

Analysis of an adherence promotion strategy, the Medication Adherence Promotion System (MAPS), found that healthcare systems will save over $9,000 per adolescent transplant recipient compared to usual care. Medication adherence strategies that reduce risk of rejection by as little as 3% and cost similar to MAPS will also yield healthcare savings.

Among teens with a kidney transplant, taking medication can be challenging and poor adherence increases the risk of rejection and loss of the transplant. Strategies to help patients take medication exist, but may be too costly or insufficiently effective.

This study published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases (AJKD) describes a clinical approach to improve adherence called the Medication Adherence Promotion System (MAPS) and evaluates its cost- effectiveness by using the costs and outcomes of a single-center. These findings show that the MAPS adherence intervention reduced costs and improved outcomes. Other interventions targeting improved adherence that had costs similar to MAPS can still be cost-effective if they decrease the number of rejection episodes even by a small amount.