I guess now it is official that the Medication Adherence Score Program is out to make money and you can read the press release below and I really don’t have to say much more as it is all self 
explanatory and sometimes I wonder if companies when they put out press releases realize that consumers read these too <grin>. In other words the target audience can catch they eye of anyone on the internet today. When you read it we have the usual mumbo jumbo of the statistics that are usually quoted in most press releases today that elaborate on how big the problem is that they are attempting to solve or provide solutions for and this one is no different. You can read the original post below from an article that was in the New York Times. A few folks were critical on how it was presented but I’m going give the journalist a bit of a break here as with everything that is out there today with analytics, it’s hard to zero in and figure out their motive and the press clears some of this up today.
FICO Credit Score Company Develops New Medication Adherence Scoring Program–Risk Management Assessment Algorithms Created to Derive Profits For Corporations–Fail!
We all know it is that “horrible awful patient” that is the villain here and if anyone reads the news today, those “villains” as they are now being identified as don’t have the money, so can someone please wake up here. With the way this was explained in the Times article credit scores are being aggregated with additional information from public sources to create this “risk scoring” and so yes, some one that is without a job might not be able to pay for their meds, brilliant conclusion right? You might also want to read up at the DailyKos on this as there was quite a bit of discussion over there on this topic.
Before I go any further here I want to point out that I like data and realize the value and we are much smarter in so many way today, otherwise a few years ago I would not have written as a developer a medical records program. If I hated analytics there would have been no way I would have even attempted such but I realize the value and better care patients get and the value for doctors to have charts for better care, hands no doubt about it. I wanted to clarify this so those reading here know exactly where I am coming from, I don’t hate data and the value we get from it.
I wrote a lot of queries, matched a lot of data and you can create queries for “accurate” results and those for “desired” results and the 2 are not always the same. We have a lot of of number crunching going on today and I look at a lot of it with a so-so attitude as I see it for what it is, number crunching and sometimes we get some good information from some of it and a lot of it is just numbers crunched. I was recently communicating with someone over at the Prostate Cancer Foundation and asked how in the world do they work with some of the news that comes out as 
everyone has a cure, cause, treatment, food you should eat and so forth for prostate cancer.
Company Advertisements Get Caught Making False Claims And Are Called to Task And So Much of This Activity is in Healthcare
That area of cancer seems to get more press out there in number crunching and advertising than anything else out there. I report some of it here, one was a speech recognition program that said it could predict prostate cancer by the sound of one’s voice…give me a break…that's a number crunch, period and had little value as it was done over a very small group.
Bayer Claim That Vitamins Prevent Prostate Cancer Is Now A Class Action Lawsuit – False Advertising
They read them all and evaluate and basically told me they understand how confused the consumer gets today with all of this and they fully understand the marketing going on and work hard to debunk what is not legitimate. The FDA does a lot of work in that area too as not too long ago they classified Cheerios as a drug and just for the record, did you know your anti perspirant is a drug? Stick around here long enough and you find some stuff that is kind of shocking.
Antiperspirants are Considered a Drug by the FDA – Recent Study looks at a connection possible between breast and prostate cancer
Back on track here with what is published today using one’s credit information is not 
an item that is directly related to patient care, it’s a number and with predictive analytics on steroids out there today, people are connecting and analyzing some wild connections. I have been writing about that for the last 3 years here with articles that I call subsidiary watch. In other words companies are buying up others who have a business that may not even be related, but guess what, they combine data and analyze. Now all of this is not bad if done ethically and to the point to where value is derived. Just put the words “subsidiary watch” in my Google search box and there’s a ton of articles talking about this fact. It’s what the world is today and if data is available, someone is going to figure out a way to market and sell it, bottom line as profits with public companies come first with share holders. Never mind that you the patient may be harmed with some of this.
I have written tons of queries and what’s stopping me to create a connection of the types of breeds of dogs we have in the world to how many folks take a vacation in Mexico? Did you get that? It was meant to be obnoxious to drive the point home, bottom line is nobody cares about this fact and it wouldn’t make any money, but now let’s say I come along and match data bases on how many that vacation in Mexico take what breed of dog with them and and come down with a case of gout? Again pretty useless matching such data, but this is done all the time and marketed and the truth of this example would be that perhaps I own a travel 
business, sell dog food and am ready to buy a bio tech company that has a potential drug for gout?
Why Is Almost Everyone In Healthcare Marketing Their “Ass” Off
Think this is unreal, nope, stuff like this happens all the time. Through subliminal messages with being repeated on the web, people start to believe it and in time we are set for another OMG story and wonder, “how did that happen”, it’s marketing folks with using data for “desired” results. Again I went to great lengths to be obnoxious here with this explanation to drive the point home and dumber comparisons and numbers have been crunched. This brings me around to repetition of information on the web and how it creates doubt. If I put 2+2=5 on this website and everyone retweeted it and is circulated all over and showed up again in a few months with the same marketing scheme, people might think “what is this, I keep seeing this, is there something to this?” Again I am being obnoxious with the example to drive the point home.
We have digital illiterates who buy in to this stuff and think everything they read is gospel when it is not, and then studies can get created from some of what is in print, we read it all the time out there. In a way I am doing the same thing here with putting the word “algorithms” center stage on this blog, but purpose is to educate and encourage learning as none of this happens without the math or the algorithms that run the process Everything just about requires some kind of IT infrastructure to function today and algorithms to run it. Loos at how the algorithms twisted the mortgage business, could not have been done without those algos they sold and transparency is now just bringing that to task.
When it comes to drug adherence there’s nothing better than a good solid relationship with a physician and getting a good education about the drugs you are taking. Even when I look at this I can’t even see how payers are going to buy into this either without seeing through it too, and normally I am not too kind toward my remarks in that area a they the kings of the algos and recently with insurers sending refunds to members, their algo were off too, weren’t they with their predictive cost scoring.
Compliance Police Out In Force for Seniors–Health Plans and Drug Stores Making Phone Calls-Business Models & Caller Behavior Sucks -A Result of Pay for Performance Efforts?
Granted the company has analytics in many other areas that are helpful and do provide some value but I declare this a mis match just like my dog food and Mexico vacation example. To be a bit of an oxymoron and comment here I wonder if payers even have room for this as again they are bursting at the seems with analytics and have their own business intelligence software solutions they are currently using? United is already committed in this area with their predictive models that try to determine risk for diabetes and at least we have something better to look at other than “credit information”.
With data mining today lawmakers are stuck, don’t know what to do about it, so ready below for my suggestion. If we are going to get marketed with all our data, let’s license it, tax it and require a full updated disclosure on what the labels are for the data columns on their queries, who they sell to and report their earnings annually. In addition the licensing fees would cover for a website to contain a full public disclosure and it would gave those who enforce the law a leg to stand on if a company did not register and was selling data. With transparency, if there done today it would come out and this is not for the browser folks who work hard to bring good search information to us, unless they selling our data. You can read more at the link below. Lawmakers certainly are not getting anywhere with current privacy efforts.
Privacy Wanted–So Let’s Require Those Who Sell Web Data to Register and Tax the Transactions and Publicly Disclose Who They Sell To With a Federal Registry
ONE MORE TIME FOR THE RECORD FOLKS, IT’S ALL ABOUT THOSE ALGOIRTHMS, LIKE OR NOT, THIS IS REALITY AND I DON’T LIKE ALL THE RESULTS THAT COME OUT OF IT 
EITHER, JUST TRYING TO EDUCATE AND EXPLAIN HOW SOME OF THIS HAPPENS.
I sent out a tweet this week to Michael Moore suggesting maybe his next movie could be titled “The Attack of the Killer Algorithms” as he done a good job with awareness but the next step is education and learning how all these processes take place and the difficult job of determining what is “flat out marketing” and what is valuable out there and I have issues figuring that out too at times. This particular one though sticks out like a sore thumb.
Again, think about the conversation between a doctor and a patient discussing treatments and drugs and how much more productive this would be. The doctor could send the patient to sites and programs to where they could get their medications discounted or free, or even the sample closet. That makes a lot more sense then running risk analysis numbers on who these algorithms determine are the big villains here. See this for what it is…marketing. Healthcare is about helping people and not turning them into an “evil community” of people and that’s exactly what this process is doing, so everyone has villains to blame. FICO hopes to gain more sales here with this program of course and it’s all automated software so there are no jobs connected with these algorithms either.
People misuse and abuse information and someone once this gets repeated down the line will use it as their ultimate decision making too, and look at the Arizona Governor who I consider less than digitally literate with what I read in the news. She didn’t know how to work with math and let people die who needed transplants.
IBM Watson Capabilities Being Pitched to Financial Industry-Congress Must Not 
Have Felt They Needed This So Further Behind We Fall With Effective Intelligent Lawmaking
One more time read this book and the understanding of mathematical formulas and how they are used might become a bit clearer to you as it is what it is and let us not forget there are human lives attached to all the algorithms and SQL statements that everyone is selling today. I’m in there with everyone else with being sold.
“Proofiness–The Dark Side of Mathematical Deception”–Created by Those Algorithms–New Book Coming Out Soon
Sometimes it say to say that we have become best “marketed” healthcare system that has ever been sold just like the movie.
The Greatest Movie Ever Sold” Just Like “The Greatest Healthcare System Ever Sold”- Same Paradigms-Colbert Report (Video)
Like every other consumer I want accurate data and not just some projected algorithms that “might” help and you all can go back to the “dead doctor” story if you like if you need proof about what is accurate on the web. AMA even liked that one we did an interview on that topic as their algorithms were and probably still are way out of whack with not only dead doctors, but many were listed affiliated with hospitals they never set foot in, wrong specialties and so forth.
So once more is this a useful risk assessment to be used, not in my opinion, just someone wanting to make a buck from some new algorithms they created and in time when re-circulated and someone interprets this as gospel, patients will lose access to drugs and care. It’s the way the digitally illiterate work today and the intelligence of some of the folks who create these stats and numbers know it, so be aware as my mission here is to try to bring this to light for a greater awareness and less potential “data fleecing” of consumers. BD
MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--FICO (NYSE:FICO), the leading provider of analytics and decision management technology, today announced the launch of the FICO® Medication Adherence Score, which uses predictive analytics to forecast an individual’s likelihood of taking his or her prescription medication as directed. The FICO Medication Adherence Score is a HIPAA-compliant solution that helps improve drug adherence, boosting therapy effectiveness and reducing health care costs.
“In relation to disease management, the FICO Prescription Score provides unique insights to tailor clinical support for the individual”
Medical industry estimates show that as many as one-half of the 3.2 billion prescriptions in the U.S. each year aren’t taken as prescribed, and patients consequently run a greater risk of poor health outcomes and more frequent hospitalizations. Non-adherence is cited as the primary cause for 10 percent of hospital admissions and 23 percent of nursing home admissions each year. Some 90,000 deaths per year are attributed to patients’ failure to adhere to anti-hypertensive treatment alone. In financial terms, the industry analyst group IDC Health Insights estimates that poor drug regimen compliance costs the U.S. health care system between $250 billion and $300 billion per year, or about 13 percent of the nation’s total health care expenditure. This problem led the National Consumers League to launch a major public education campaign in May to raise awareness about the consequences of not taking medication as directed.
“As the debate intensifies over how to structure and pay for effective health care in America, non-adherence to prescription medication has emerged as a critical focus,” said Mark Greene, CEO of FICO. “When people don’t take their medicine, this hurts their health and raises the cost of care. The FICO Medication Adherence Score has the potential to deliver immediate value in this area, helping physicians, health care organizations, pharmacy benefit managers, clinical review organizations, and pharmaceutical marketers improve patient outcomes while lowering costs.”
FICO’s analytics identify the potential future adherence risk of each patient by using data from a range of publicly available third-party data sources. Because the FICO Medication Adherence Score requires minimal information from the patient, and no prescription claims or sensitive health information, the score can be generated for members of any patient population. The FICO Medication Adherence Score enables patient communication, drug therapy management and other programs to be customized for the individual or patient segment. This tailored approach creates opportunities for improved program effectiveness at reduced costs.
“The FICO Medication Adherence Score provides valuable insight to pharmaceutical marketing teams that until now has not been readily available,” said Eric Newmark, Research Manager at IDC Health Insights. “Considering that non-adherence to prescribed drugs is estimated to cost the pharmaceutical industry more than $35 billion in lost revenue annually, the FICO Medication Adherence Score can offer great value for marketing optimization and insight into ways to improve patient health. The solution is likely to drive synergies in other investments as well, such as remote patient monitoring and better ‘connected’ Medication Adherence.”
“In relation to disease management, the FICO Prescription Score provides unique insights to tailor clinical support for the individual,” said Louis Brunetti, MD, JD, FACP, and Chief Medical Officer for MedImpact Healthcare Systems, Inc. MedImpact has used information technology and human capital to improve the practice of managed care pharmacy since 1989. The company partners with the nation’s finest health plans, hospitals, and employers to provide pharmacy benefit management services.
“Indeed, a readily obtainable measure like the FICO Medication Adherence Score provides physicians, pharmacists and pharmacy benefit managers with a clearer understanding of the most effective therapeutic choices available to effectively treat a particular patient,” said Brunetti.
FICO works with 40 of the world’s top health care companies and eight of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies, helping them apply advanced analytics to gain actionable insights. Services include health care marketing management, health care analytics, wellness management and health care fraud protection.
About FICO
FICO (NYSE:FICO) delivers superior predictive analytics solutions that drive smarter decisions. The company’s groundbreaking use of mathematics to predict consumer behavior has transformed entire industries and revolutionized the way risk is managed and products are marketed. FICO’s innovative solutions include the FICO® Score — the standard measure of consumer credit risk in the United States — along with industry-leading solutions for managing credit accounts, identifying and minimizing the impact of fraud, and customizing consumer offers with pinpoint accuracy. Most of the world’s top banks, as well as leading insurers, retailers, pharmaceutical companies and government agencies, rely on FICO solutions to accelerate growth, control risk, boost profits and meet regulatory and competitive demands. FICO also helps millions of individuals manage their personal credit health through www.myFICO.com. Learn more at www.fico.com. FICO: Make every decision count™.Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Information
Except for historical information contained herein, the statements contained in this news release that relate to FICO or its business are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially, including the success of the Company’s Decision Management strategy and reengineering plan, the maintenance of its existing relationships and ability to create new relationships with customers and key alliance partners, its ability to continue to develop new and enhanced products and services, its ability to recruit and retain key technical and managerial personnel, competition, regulatory changes applicable to the use of consumer credit and other data, the failure to realize the anticipated benefits of any acquisitions, continuing material adverse developments in global economic conditions, and other risks described from time to time in FICO’s SEC reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2010. If any of these risks or uncertainties materializes, FICO’s results could differ materially from its expectations. FICO disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.FICO is a trademark or registered trademark of Fair Isaac Corporation in the United States and in other countries.
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