Breathing should never feel like work. Pharmaceutical innovation has brought powerful therapies to market, but many COPD patients struggle to stay on therapy. For the 16 million Americans diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the challenge isn’t medications. It’s connecting people to the right support at critical moments to improve access and adherence. That’s where digital patient engagement comes in.
World Lung Day serves as a reminder: For people managing COPD and other breathing disorders, every short breath, flare-up, and missed dose of medication impacts the quality of daily life and carries long-term health consequences.
Medication adherence is a quiet crisis in COPD management. Research shows that only 30% of patients with COPD take their medications as prescribed. That may sound like a choice—but more often, it’s not. Patients fall off therapy for various reasons, such as:
These moments may seem small, but they add up. One in six patients with COPD report missing a dose, lowering a dose, or delaying a prescription fill for financial reasons. And poor inhaler adherence increases the risk of COPD flare-ups by 40%.
Even minor misunderstandings can slow therapy starts. Take pharmacy selection. Bronchodilator or inhaled corticosteroid prescriptions can be filled at most retail pharmacies. However, specialty medications to treat COPD, like biologics, may need to be filled at a specialty pharmacy due to specific handling requirements or a defined, limited distribution network (LDN).
Lack of transparency on the provider side means time-consuming calls and prescription re-routing that takes away from direct patient care. Meanwhile, the patient heads to their regular pharmacy, only to discover that the prescription can’t be filled there, leading to frustration and potential treatment abandonment.
Effective engagement starts in the provider’s EHR workflow. Providers can make faster, more informed decisions when they see key information at the right moment:
That same logic carries over to the patient experience. Personalized SMS messages sent on behalf of the provider bridge gaps by providing support in real time, including:
For patients managing chronic diseases—whether it’s COPD, diabetes, heart failure, rheumatoid arthritis, or complex cancer regimens—staying on their medication can be the difference between stability and crisis. In the U.S., medication non-adherence contributes to 125,000 deaths and 10% of hospitalizations each year.
Digital engagement tools step in before problems escalate. Cost concerns, confusion about dosing, and wariness about side effects get addressed early, rather than discovered after an ER visit or disease progression due to non-adherence.
The benefits extend beyond individual health. Patients who stay adherent avoid unnecessary hospitalizations, reduce their annual healthcare costs, and preserve the ability to remain active.
Digital patient engagement also transforms the way pharmaceutical teams support patients. Having real-time insights into patient behavior and outcomes, rather than relying on retrospective claims data, gives market access and patient support program teams direct visibility into key points of the patient journey. This visibility turns guesswork into action.
Download our guide to learn how TimelySM by DrFirst® achieves an 85% patient engagement rate and up to 10% increase in prescription fills with an end-to-end approach, from prescribing to long-term adherence.