UK study to pay some psychiatric patients to take medication.

BBC News (10/6, Robert) reported that researchers at the University of London “are resorting to paying some psychiatric patients in the hope it will make them take their medication.” During “a trial, 68 patients with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia will get £15 [$23.81] for every jab of” an anti-psychotic, “earning them a possible £720 [$1,143] in a year,” while 68 other patients will receive “usual care.” According to study leader Professor Stefan Priebe, “bribery may be an option” after “all other attempts to achieve adherence” to medication regimens “have failed.” Priebe “expects that not only will patients be happy to trade an injection for cash, but that the ‘money for medication’ scheme should pay for itself, with the financial costs more than off-set by the savings made in reduced hospital admissions.”

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