Introduction
A central problem in care is poor medication adherence. On average, one in 10 people with chronic conditions is wholly or partially non-adherent with their medications. Failure to take drugs as prescribed – either entirely or in terms of proper dosing or timing – is associated with poor health outcomes, including hospitalization and subsequent medical care, and significant increases in the cost of health care. Forgetfulness, complex regimens, and a lack of knowledge about one’s medications are some of the reasons why it is difficult to ‘take one’s pills’ as prescribed. Improving medication adherence has, therefore, become a major priority for healthcare providers and policymakers.
Mobile apps might bring real solutions to this problem. Some mobile apps are designed to help patients remember to take their medications, track which ones they’ve missed, or offer detailed information about drug interactions. Others even let users contact healthcare providers via text, phone, or video for real-time medication advice. Some apps pair well with wearable devices, allowing such devices to monitor a patient’s adherence over time – even integrating medication data into electronic health records (EHR). By making adherence easier and more accessible, mobile apps can improve patient outcomes and reduce the burden on the healthcare system.
What is medication adherence?
Adherence to medications is defined by the extent to which a patient follows a healthcare provider’s prescription advice for their medication dosage, frequency, or timing. This is a key aspect in ensuring the best possible treatment outcomes, especially for those who are on medications to manage chronic health conditions like diabetes, hypertension, or heart disease. Appropriate adherence to medication helps to keep chronic health conditions under proper control to maximize treatment effects and minimize complications that may result from missed doses or incorrect drug intake.
However, researchers have estimated that around half of patients with chronic diseases in developed countries don’t adhere to their drug regimens. According to some data, that translates into more hospitalizations, poorer management of chronic conditions, and soaring healthcare costs totaling hundreds of billions a year. The reasons for the lack of adherence run the gamut from forgetfulness and side effects to demanding dosing schedules and a lack of understanding of why taking medicine is necessary.
As these problems become more pronounced, mobile apps serve as a solution that puts the power to adhere to medication regimens at patients’ fingertips through an easy-to-use, accessible solution. Apps can send reminders to take medication, track the dosing history, and provide educational content about medications. For many apps, patients can set up pill alerts for prescription refills, look up medicines, or communicate with a healthcare professional for support. Overall, mobile apps reduce barriers to complex medication management and decrease the odds of missing doses, leading to improved patient education.
How mobile apps improve medication adherence
The most common features of mobile apps that improve adherence are push notifications and reminders that help patients take their medications at the right time or date. This feature cuts down on the number of missed doses, which unfortunately happens very commonly, especially in people taking several prescriptions. Notifications can run once daily, per week, or even per hour – whenever a missed dose might be most important, depending on the patient’s schedule. The timely reminders allow patients to adjust the alerts to accommodate their specific timetable. This can be especially useful for medications that must be taken at a particular time of day or with separate meals or beverages.
Another capability is medication tracking and scheduling. Mobile apps can allow a patient to log her entire dosage history. She would list all her primary medications, perhaps offering information about their dosage amounts and frequencies. The main app would utilize this information to help the patient set up an individual schedule for each and keep track of them over time. Some apps even allow a patient to log her side effects or instances where she missed a dose, affording users the kind of detailed insight and accuracy that was only possible with the help of a nurse or another health personnel before the advent of mobile phones. This kind of functionality can be empowering for patients.
Perhaps the biggest game-changing advance, however, is real-time data sharing between patient and provider. Numerous mobile apps can link with electronic health records (EHRs) or wearable devices to allow a doctor to see remotely how his or her patient is doing with adherence. This way, interventions can be made early on if a problem is developing – whether a trend of missing doses or some other issue that a patient is having difficulty telling his or her doctor about. With accurate data on adherence available to the physician, it is possible to make timely course corrections regarding the treatment plan.
Furthermore, personalization options such as customizable features, multi-language support, simplified interfaces for elderly patients, or adding family members or carers to the app to receive notifications upon missing doses facilitate adherence and, by extension, enhance the adherence experience. This individualized approach to medication management by mobile apps is critical for meeting the needs of diverse patient populations. It is an important step in ensuring that a one-size-fits-all approach to the perspective of patient experience does not emerge.
Key features of medication adherence apps
Automated reminders and notifications
The most crucial feature of the medication adherence apps is the automated notifications and reminders intended to help patients remember to take their medications as prescribed. These alerts range from simple daily reminders to multi-dose automated notifications programmed to fit a patient’s schedule. By reminding patients about medications when they are relevant to the patient’s daily routine, notifications can help patients – especially those with busier lives or complex treatment schedules – avoid missing doses.
Medication history tracking
These apps also include a medication history-tracking feature enabling patients to track what they take, when, and how consistently (or inconsistently) they stay on it. Users can log each dose consumed, creating a record of their adherence that can be monitored by the patient – and anyone else they choose to share it with – over time. Some apps even capture missed doses and side effects, building a complete record for patients to take to their appointments to discuss with their doctors. Armed with this level of data, it becomes easier for patients and providers to make informed decisions about treatment and whether adjustments need to be made.
Dose management and refill reminders
Dose management and refill reminders refer to the app’s medication management capabilities. Once prescribed, the app can track when a patient should take their medication and send refill reminders when it’s time to renew a prescription. Treatment delays, such as patients running out of medication, are critical barriers to medication adherence, and apps help reduce these by providing reminders to renew a prescription ahead of time. Some advanced apps can connect directly with a pharmacy, making the renewal process easier and faster.
Integration with electronic health records (EHRs)
Data integration with electronic health records (EHRs) distinguishes medication adherence apps from self-care apps – by integrating patients’ medication information directly with their healthcare providers’ EHRs, these apps enable real-time sharing of adherence information, providing the opportunity for real-time tracking of patient status and the involvement of custom software development for healthcare team members to intervene patient by patient, when, why and how needed. Aside from optimizing medication-therapy management, this data integration simplifies the coordination of patient care, as it enables the patients’ doctors to review the medication data in real-time and to monitor and modify treatment plans based on continuous updates about the patient’s medication adherence. Data integration with EHRs strengthens the efficacy of medication adherence apps – by facilitating a seamless connection between patients and their physicians or healthcare teams.
The role of AI and machine learning in medication adherence apps
The impact of these medication adherence apps will be further amplified if they incorporate AI and machine learning to create personalized experiences and smarter features for patients. AI-powered apps can harness individualized patient behaviors, prior treatment history, and observed adherence patterns to generate more relevant patient-centric pharmacovigilance strategies and medication adherence solutions. These smart features include recognizing a patient’s recurrent dose misses and providing reminders that are contextualized to their individual needs, including alternate times for receiving alerts, educational resources related to the medication and why it is required consistently, and other pharma and patient engagement tactics to support medication adherence and overall patient wellness.
Furthermore, with AI and machine learning, it’s possible to ditch the inflexible weekly pillbox and design a more bespoke medication schedule or make real-time refinements to dosage and timing to account for a person’s lifestyle, overall health, and the changing nature of their disease. For example, if a patient’s condition or care plan changes, an AI app could update your dose on your behalf or alter the timing of your medication, depending on the parameters specified by a physician. And, by detecting nonadherence patterns in the aggregate data, the app can proactively predict in real-time when you’re most likely to miss a dose – say, after your return from vacation or before you start a new end-of-the-year craziness. The continuous dynamic analysis of targeted data could intervene proactively to prevent nonadherence and provide more intelligent decision support based on an individual’s needs. This machine-learning feedback loop could constantly work to improve the adherence rate and the chances of maintaining control of chronic disease variables. It could avert adverse complications down the road.
Benefits of mobile apps for patients and healthcare providers
Increased adherence rates
Medication adherence mobile apps have many substantial benefits for clinicians and patients alike, beginning with better adherence. For example, adherence technology tends to track when people took their medication; it offers patients reminders and support for complex regimens. Reminders and affirmation of medication management tasks make adherence more likely and deliver a simplified strategy to a complex issue. Help is best realized in the form of simple and effective technology to manage pill-taking. Adherence technology can be particularly advantageous for people with chronic conditions, a significant population needing better adherence skills.
Improved health outcomes
High adherence to a mobile app implies better health outcomes. When patients consume their medications correctly, they are more likely to achieve their clinical goals, such as disease control or reduction in treatment complications. Improved adherence is especially important for patients with chronic diseases, such as diabetes or hypertension, where it can reduce the risk of hospitalizations or significant long-term health consequences. Some research has even shown that treatment-related complications affect a large majority (upwards of 50 percent) of patients with chronic diseases. Education can inform and help patients interpret alerts from their apps, while monitoring can help them avoid dangerous side effects and drug interactions.
Reduced healthcare costs
Medication adherence apps offer a significant advantage in reducing healthcare costs. Non-adherence is one of the top reasons for preventable hospital visits and emergency room admissions and is one of the major causes of disease progression. In turn, both result in increased healthcare costs. Reducing healthcare costs is an important outcome of these medication adherence apps, as patients get to maintain a healthy lifestyle, are less likely to require costly medical intervention, and are not expected to burden the healthcare system.
Better communication between patients and providers
Mobile apps increase communication between patients and providers. Many adherence apps link to electronic health records (EHRs) or share real-time data so that doctors and care teams can see whether or not patients are using their medications. When providers can monitor adherence, they can identify concerns earlier, reassess treatment plans, and provide patients with advice in a more timely fashion. Apps that increase patient-provider communication improve the patient-provider relationship and can lead to better patient health outcomes by making treatment more responsive to their needs.
Future trends in medication adherence technology
A crucial future trend with medication adherence apps is leveraging their data/software sync with wearable devices. Wearable fitness trackers and smartwatches linked with a medication adherence app can now monitor vital signs, physical activity, and sleep patterns. Coupling a tracker with an adherence app can provide simple and real-time data – such as heart rate or blood pressure – that is needed to send an alert when medication should have been taken or not. Overall, the user’s data can aid the patient in better regulating their adherence.
Telemedicine and virtual videoconferencing consultations are also changing how patients adhere to their medication. As telehealth expands, adherence apps are increasingly likely to integrate with telemedicine platforms to support the remote monitoring of patients by their healthcare provider and facilitate the remote adjustments of treatment as needed. For patients, this means they can discuss any issues they are having with adherence in real time, receive personalized advice, and be encouraged to follow up with a calendar reminder sent through the app. The potential for continuity of care is enhanced through telemedicine, enabling the option of having any adherence-related problems addressed or prevented by healthcare professionals before they affect physical health.
Predictive analytics is another promising area in medication adherence technology. AI and machine learning are applied to understand a patient’s adherence history and health data, and learning algorithms sift through various communications about patient behavior to predict when the patient will be at risk of non-adherence. Based on this, an adherence app might pre-emptively take action: it might send more reminders or base the timing of reminders on the patient’s behavior, such as sending a reminder at the same time the patient typically takes or doesn’t take a dose. Someday, predictive models could alert the treating physician about a patient at risk of non-adherence before the patient becomes non-adherent. The custom healthcare software solutions provider could intervene before a problem is likely to arise. So, adherence technology is becoming more preventive than reactive.
Conclusion
To sum up, mobile apps are bringing a revolution in the long-prevailing issue of medication adherence by offering automated medication reminders, medication tracking, real-time data sharing, and customized schedules to the patients as an effort to assist them in the treatment regimen and helping healthcare professionals to optimize and understand the effectiveness of treatments, by providing them with new opportunities to gather more data about the patients and then proactively plan for lowered health risks, by addressing and preventing the complications before they materialize. Overall, it is quite clearly evident that in the future, the incorporation of AI, telemedicine, and wearable devices will mask medication adherence as an issue utilizing digital health. For patients, taking medications will become easy.
People Also Ask (PAA) questions
- What are medication adherence apps?
Medication adherence apps are mobile apps that can help patients take medication as prescribed. The app includes various features, such as a reminder, dosage, and warning messages, to help patients adhere to the drug’s schedule.
- How do mobile apps help patients manage medications?
With electronic reminders at their fingertips to take prescribed doses, track medication history, receive refill alerts, and receive educational information on their prescriptions, patients are less likely to forget or fail to refill it, thus increasing treatment adherence.
- Why is medication adherence important in healthcare?
Adherence to medications is an indispensable part of effective treatment for chronic conditions. It helps to avoid complications, reduce hospitalisations, and improve patients’ health while also benefiting the healthcare system from a cost perspective.
- What features should a medication tracking app have?
A pill-tracking app should provide automated reminders, dose management, refill alerts, medication history tracking, and linkage to electronic health records (EHRs). Personalized medication schedule tracking and health data sharing are also desirable features.
- How do mobile health apps benefit healthcare providers?
Mobile health apps can monitor patients’ adherence to care in real-time and provide actionable insights to healthcare providers. This helps them better track the effectiveness of treatment, adjust care plans, and intervene before crises occur, leading to improved outcomes and care coordination.
- Can AI improve medication adherence?
Indeed, rising AI use in patient adherence can help personalize reminders, detect potential patterns of non-adherence in patients’ behavior, predict when they might drift off meds, or offer tailored solutions. In the not-too-distant future, AI-driver apps may dynamically adapt their patients’ adherence schedules in real time to prompt patients and craft proactive interventions, thereby keeping them on the right path.
- What are the challenges in developing medication adherence apps?
Obstacles to developing a medication adherence app include designing an engaging and easy-to-use interface, securing data and storing it, integrating with an EHR, addressing the various needs of different patient populations, and conforming to regulatory requirements such as HIPAA.
- What are the most popular medication reminder apps?
The best-known apps include Medisafe, MyTherapy, CareZone, and Round Health. They can be basic reminders or highly elaborate, incorporating tracking and integration with wearables.
