A patient’s accountability and engagement in their own health is reforming the care delivery system. When patients take charge of their medication, an adherence system can help them achieve the treatment or output expected.
Medication adherence management systems ascertain that patients are reminded about their medication on time. Such practices are common in clinical trials as well where participants are informed to take medication, so as to ensure that effective outputs are received. This also involves sending alerts to the patient, clinicians, or to any family member in case of non-adherence.
Medication Adherence Management: Effective Use Scenarios
Medication adherence can be of use to provider organizations, population health management programs, pharmaceutical companies, clinical trials, or retail pharmacies.
They prove to be a great help in chronic disease management or behavioural care, where skipping medication can lead to bad health status, require emergency consultation, or even hospitalization.
In clinical trials, medication adherence assures that the output received is accurate and therefore, the drug examined is safe to be used by other patients.
As the value-based care and clinical trials see a massive adoption, medication adherence management systems are sure to play a significant role in care delivery. To adhere medication, a system might used digitally advanced options like in-app messages, text, voice reminder, or simply , a calendar based refill reminder.
Ways to Implement Medication Adherence
Thanks to the smart technology today, there are a number of ways adherence can be implemented into medication.
- Patient portals
- Text messages
- Electronic pill boxes with schedule
- Mobile applications
- RFID tagged smart pills
- Smart pill bottle caps
These systems are designed to remind the patients (caregivers or family members) about medication time and dose level, and also informs them about non-adherence to avoid any future risk.
However, despite such benefits, a very low share of patients have access and affordability to adherence systems. Therefore, the value of these systems will reach targeted users, only if the cost factor associated with it is modest.
Patient Medication Adherence System: The Loophole
The medication compliance management systems will prove to be helpful when patients will take accountability of their health. Reason being, there no way it can be ensured that medication has been taken or completed, except for smart pills.
Impact of Medication Adherence in Care Delivery
Maintaining a routine for medication ensures effective usage of medicines, ascertains improved patient output, reduced readmissions etc. In most of the worse scenarios, patients do not take prescribed medicines, which ultimately results in deteriorated health, expenditure waste, and high numbers in hospitalization.
With so many benefits in line, compliance in medication can enable providers and clinical trials to reduce their cost (by ensuring effectiveness) and allow patients to proactively participate in their own health treatment.
Medication Adherence System: Best Practices
With advent of smartphones, their progress, and applications, mobile apps turn out to be one of significant ways to implement medication adherence. These systems either be individual or integrated into other healthcare applications (like iSikcure).
There are a number of ways mHealth apps can aid in chronic disease management and medication adherence is one of them. Developing an app that reaches the mass, is affordable, and have intuitive interface to engage patients is one of the subtle ways of building a care system.
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