Forget to take your medication. Been there, done that many times. It seems all the sticky notes in the world don’t help. But Express Scripts, Inc., a St. Louis pharmacy-benefit manager, may have just the high-tech solution to solve the problem.
According to news
reports, the company plans to test an electronic pill container that issues a series of “insistent reminders.” The container—which features a high-tech top for standard pill bottles called a 'GlowCap'—comes with a wireless transmitter that plugs into the wall. When it’s time to take a pill, the GlowCap emits a pulsing orange light, The Wall Street Journal said. After an hour, the gadget starts beeping every five minutes and becomes more insistent, it said.
If the alerts are ignored, the device can set off an automated telephone or text message reminder to patients. What’s more, it can generate e-mail or letters reporting to a family member or doctor the frequency, or lack thereof, the medication is taken.
With its latest offering, Express Scripts plans to start a small test in a month. A larger trial will target patients who take drugs for cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart failure this summer, the Journal reported.
Roughly half of all patients who take medication for a chronic condition still take it drug regularly after a year, Daniel Touchette, assistant professor of pharmacy practice at the University of Illinois at Chicago, told the Journal. There are numerous reasons why patients don’t take their medication. Some experience side effects, whereas others don’t think the drug works well. And some can’t afford to take their medicine daily. Others just forget, the report said.
Bob Nease, Express Scripts' chief scientist, said the test will help the company determine if the gadget, which sells for about $100, improves pill-taking, and also see how useful the detailed information that the device sends wirelessly is for doctors and patients.
'It is an outstanding instrument' for tracking such information, he told the Journal.
Amy Tierney is a Web editor for HealthTechZone, covering business communications Her areas of focus include conferencing, SIP, Fax over IP, unified communications and telepresence. Amy also writes about education and healthcare technology, overseeing production of e-Newsletters on those topics as well as communications solutions and UC. To read more of Amy's articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by
Amy Tierney
