Adherence at 2 years with distribution of essential medicines at no charge: The CLEAN Meds randomized clinical trial.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Adherence to medicines is low for a variety of reasons, including the cost borne by patients. Some jurisdictions publicly fund medicines for the general population, but many jurisdictions do not, and such policies are contentious. To our knowledge, no trials studying free access to a wide range of medicines have been conducted.

Methods and findings

We randomly assigned 786 primary care patients who reported not taking medicines due to cost between June 1, 2016 and April 28, 2017 to either free distribution of essential medicines (n = 395) or to usual medicine access (n = 391). The trial was conducted in Ontario, Canada, where hospital care and physician services are publicly funded for the general population but medicines are not. The trial population was mostly f

SUBMITTER: Persaud N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8139488 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature