Pill boxes, smart cabinets, blood test results, text reminders, and old-fashioned pill-counting are among the ways healthcare providers and case managers have monitored patients’ medication adherence.
Optima Health in Virginia Beach, VA, recently began using a new technology that includes a pill box so sensitive to weight that it can determine precisely which pill, and how many, were pulled.
“This past year we started using a medication management system that has a box that makes it easy to increase drug adherence,” says Tonya M. Palmer, RN, MSN, CCM, manager of government programs for the clinical care services division of Optima Health.
Patients can manage complex medication regimens cued by lights and sounds as they open their medication box.
“Prescriptions are mailed to them in sealed bubble trays that go into the pill box,” Palmer says. “They set the timer for when medications are due.”
Weight sensors track whether patients take their medicine.
“The box knows if they have not removed their pill,” says Cindy Colligan, BSN, MBA, CCM, director of operations for clinical care services government programs at Optima Health.
“Bluetooth technology sends data to a dashboard,” Colligan adds. “It has an alarm and can send a text message or email message that there is a missed dose, and case managers can see it in the dashboard.”
This makes it easy for case managers to monitor patients’ medication adherence in real time.
If a patient misses a dose or forgets to charge their medication box, the case manager can call them to find out what’s going on.
“One member was set up with the box but wasn’t using it, so the case manager called and found out the person never received the box cord,” Palmer says. “So we got the cord to the person.”
Although the program is too new for results to be analyzed, anecdotal evidence is positive, Colligan notes.
“We have more than 100 members using the box, and, anecdotally, we can see success,” she says. “One member, who started with it in December 2016, went from 60% adherence to 98% adherence by February 2017.”
Initially, the patient wanted the smart box as a reminder when he was forgetful. “Over time, he relied on it less and less,” Colligan says.
Patients using the box are those with chronic health conditions and more than five prescriptions related to their conditions.
“It eliminates errors,” Colligan says. “Some members have a problem obtaining their medications; some have a problem remembering to take their medications. For members who want to be adherent, the pill box solves a continuum of problems.”
Optima Health recently began using a new technology that includes a pill box so sensitive to weight that it can determine precisely which pill, and how many, were pulled.
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