medical costs. and lost revenue

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keannu

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Does this "lost revenue" mean the one by users or pharmaceutical companies?

st116
ex)In the medical community, not taking medicine is known as patient noncompliance and it's a huge problem. Overall, about half of patients fail to correctly follow their doctors' directions for prescriptions. They forget to take pills, take the wrong amount of medicine, or skip a few days without thinking about it. Noncompliance behavior has large social consequences through unnecessary medical costs. and lost revenue.... Fortunately, devices to help people remember to take their pills have been around for years. The user fills the box once a week and then it is easier to remember to take and whether you have already taken your medicine.
 
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emsr2d2

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Does this "lost revenue" mean the one by users or pharmaceutical companies?

st116
ex)In the medical community, not taking medicine is known as patient noncompliance and it's a huge problem. Overall, about half of patients fail to correctly follow their doctors' directions for prescriptions. They forget to take pills, take the wrong amount of medicine, or skip a few days without thinking about it. Noncompliance behavior has large social consequences through unnecessary medical costs. and lost revenue....

"Revenue" doesn't apply to users. "Revenue" is income. There is no "lost income" for patients by them forgetting to take their pills or taking the wrong amount.

However, having said that, the piece doesn't suggest that people forget to actually fill their prescriptions (ie they don't go and buy the drugs prescribed by their doctor). That would lose revenue for the pharmaceutical companies. It simply says that having bought the medication, they forget to take it or take the wrong amount. They have already bought the medication so the drug companies didn't lose revenue there either.

They would lose revenue if the noncompliance behaviour included not bothering to buy the prescribed medication. My personal feeling is that it probably does include that but it's not specifically stated in the excerpt you have posted.
 

keannu

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Yes, as you said, their not buying prescribed medications would cause the companies' lost revenue, needless to say, and it's not explicitly written here. My another assumption is that if they delay taking medications regularly, they will delay buying next medications, contributing to more lost revenue as well. Thanks a lot, teacher!!!
 

SoothingDave

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Yes, as you said, their not buying prescribed medications would cause the companies' lost revenue, needless to say, and it's not explicitly written here. My another assumption is that if they delay taking medications regularly, they will delay buying next medications, contributing to more lost revenue as well. Thanks a lot, teacher!!!

Yes, that's the idea. If I follow the right schedule, I should need new pills every 30 days. If I miss a dose or two, I don't need to refill the prescription as soon. Maybe I buy it after 32 days. It seems small, but multiply that couple days' delay by the millions of people out there taking medications and you do indeed have lost revenue for the pharmaceutical companies.
 
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JohnParis

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All of the above explanations are valid and plausible.
However, I think that the author is referring to societal costs. The key part of his paragraph is "Noncompliance behavior has large social consequences through unnecessary medical costs and lost revenue....
Social consequences means loss of productivity (absence from work, for example) and therefore loss of revenue to society - in all its forms. This is the basis of the science of Health Economics.
Keanau - do you have the complete text of the article this paragraph came from?
 

keannu

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Thanks a lot for your favor, but unfortunately, I don't have it as it's a question from a workbook, and each question is just that long. Your explanation makes quite a sense, and if we search for the whole writing through some key words in there, we might be able to find it. But in so far as all of you explained, the answer is enough as that's not a vital element in the question. I only needed to explain a a little bit unclear part to my buddies.
 
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