What Is the FICO Medication Adherence Score?

[JenJen]

And then there's this...

When it comes to borrowing money, we depend on high FICO credit scores, which are calculated using an algorithm designed by FICO (formerly known as Fair Isaac Corp.). They pull data from credit reporting agencies Equifax, Trans Union or Experion. The data are added, subtracted, compared and contrasted. Ultimately, we are assigned a number that tells other creditors how likely we are to pay back a loan, whether it's a new mortgage, a car loan or a credit card. Those creditors pay a fee to FICO to get that information. It's a highly profitable business.

Now, FICO has developed a score called the FICO Medication Adherence Score. Instead of measuring how well we borrow and repay money, it measures how well we handle a drug prescription, which the company promotes as an indicator of how well we follow through on our doctors' treatment recommendations.

The algorithm scores patient adherence, using the prescriptions doctors write. The algorithm figures out who does or doesn't fill their prescriptions, how often patients order refills (whether we are using them too slowly or too quickly) and what those prescriptions are for - information that indicates what diagnoses patients have and more. The more adherent we are, the higher the score.

FICO will purchase the data used in its algorithm from large pharmacies like Express Scripts, Medco, Rite-Aid, CVS and Walgreens. While the company has not stated so, it may also purchase data from affinity cards - those cards you swipe at the supermarket that provide discounts (and also provide a wealth of information about whether you are buying too much red meat, not enough fish, too many snacks or sweetened soft drinks, etc.) When all that data are combined, each patient will be assigned a number from 0 to 500. The number tells about our likelihood of taking the drug prescriptions as they were written for us. The higher the number, the better.

http://patients.about.com/od/followt...ence-Score.htm

[PaidMyDues]

I'm not sure if this will get past HIPAA, but if it does it is a cause for great concern. Welcome to 1984.

[dan_nc]

That's fantastic. I'm sure that will help reduce costs and improve outcomes.

[darkeyed_daisy]

"enough is enough".

I don't ever put correct information in to get the supermarket cards. I make it up.

Regarding HIPAA...you sign at the pharmacy or on the back of the form at the doctor's office/hospital that they can use this information. Read the fine print. If you refuse to sign to let them collect your information, they can refuse to let you be a customer or be treated. They use it as a guise to file your insurance but you give them authorization to use any of your information in just about any form. Again....read the fine print.

Of note, my doctor called in the wrong prescription and I didn't pick it up. I guess under the FICO system, I would be deemed "non-compliance". Imagine trying to get that straightened out. It is bad enough to try to get refills correctly.

[darkeyed_daisy]

So I read a few links connected to this article:

We can presume FICO will peddle its scoring system to insurers to help them price insurance for an individual. Even thought insurers cannot simply deny coverage to an individual with a pre-existing condition, they can price it so high that they know the individual will turn them down. The FICO score may also indicate to an insurer whether or not we have been truthful on their application. When paired with our Medical Information Bureau information, insurance companies will know almost everything there is to know about us that affects their bottom line.

Employers may have many uses for such a score. It may help them decide whether to hire you or lay you off before they lay off someone else with a higher score, or support your efforts at improving your score if you are among their most valued employees.

Instead of accepting a prescription just because you always have, you'll want to discuss its necessity and use with your doctor. Ask what the drug is, why you should take it, how much of it you should take and what to expect when you do. Just as important, push back if you don't think you will fill the prescription or think you may take it differently from the way it was prescribed. Remember, any variation in the doctor's intent and your real use will reflect negatively on your FICO score.

• If you can afford it, then purchase the drug, even if you don't take it the way you are expected to, then be sure to order your refills on the right schedule. For health purposes, you are expected to take the drug exactly as prescribed. But FICO will have no idea if you are actually taking the drug or if you are using it up too quickly. They will only know, and score you, based on the schedules the doctor determined, compared to when you actually make the purchases.
• Finally, if you want to go against your doctors' orders and buy foods or beverages, cigarettes or any other substance that may be detrimental to your health and that you've been told to avoid, pay for them in cash. Also, if you want to make a purchase of any of those products for someone else pay for them in cash, too. Do not use your credit card or an affinity card (those cards you swipe at the supermarket or pharmacy check-out for discounts) when you purchase them. FICO sees everything associated with a card, but they have no idea what you pay cash for. Note: This is not a recommendation that you should make these purchases. It's only a way to improve your FICO adherence score.

http://patients.about.com/od/followt...ence-Score.htm

Want to be worried even more...

http://patients.about.com/od/yourmed...ords/a/mib.htm

You give them the authority to use your information every time you sign a form.

The information collected by the MIB helps the insurance companies decide which applicants will likely live long enough to help the company make its profits.

[darkeyed_daisy]

If you would like to know what is in your MIB file, here is the link:

http://patients.about.com/gi/o.htm?z...ur_record.html

[willingtocope]

As with all things FICO, this is not as simple as it appears on the surface.

For example:

Pharmaceutical companies pour billions into selling their drugs and encouraging doctors to prescribe them. Statistics tell us that the majority of prescriptions are never even filled; meaning no income for the drug company. These FICO scores will give them more information about how to get patients to fill their prescriptions. They want you to take your pills - but only because you will pay for (or your insurance company will pay for) refills. Helping you raise your score will help them sell more drugs. Marketing promotions to raise our scores may be the ads and commercials we see in the future.

This score will be used by the pharm companies AND by the insurance companies to decide who they will make money on. The pharms want "high compliance"...the insurance companies will want "low compliance", or at the very least will charge more for patients with high compliance.

This is NOT a good thing for us consumers.