The Future of Medication Management: 4 High-Tech Solutions
By Erin Sandberg
You know you’re supposed to take your meds as prescribed, but medication management is a little more complicated than that. Taking medications for chronic illness means something. Beyond the organizing and logistics, there’s the personal side: the stigma some meds carry, the frustration of having to depend on drugs and the side effects that can keep you from doing the things that make you who you are.
Maybe that’s why medication adherence rates are only around 50 percent, and can even decrease as things get more complicated, like when you have several pills to take at different times, when your treatment period lasts a long time and when medications carry really unpleasant side effects. And let’s face it: Even though the power of medications can be life changing, taking pills isn’t exactly fun.
The Future of Medication Management
Luckily, these companies are working on solutions to make things a little easier. From futuristic devices to apps designed to improve safety, here are four solutions to make managing your meds not so bad.
PillPack
This pharmacy service offers helpful bells and whistles like automatic refills (they contact your docs for you) and automated pill dispensing (with pharmacist checks). But the coolest part? Your pills arrive at your door in labeled individual dose packs. Every two weeks, you’ll get a discreet box with pre-sorted meds that’s guaranteed to arrive on time. The packets contain only the pills you need at a given time, so you don’t have to take multiple bottles of meds with you if you’re out and about, and the design of the packets mean no more caps coming loose in your bag and scattering pills everywhere. The individual packets can easily and discreetly fit in the pocket of your favorite pair of jeans or your favorite clutch.
Medisafe
Is remembering how, when or why to take your pills more of an issue for you than organization or storage? The Medisafe app was created by two brothers who wanted to create a better solution after their father accidentally overdosed on his insulin medication — don’t worry, he’s OK now. The app not only provides reminders, but keeps you in touch with family members whose meds you need to monitor, and vice versa. Connect with a Medifriend, like a friend, family member or caregiver, and they can send you nudges if you miss a dose. It might seem simple, but adding a Medifriend improved medication adherence in 71 percent of users. And it’s a one-stop-shop. The app offers an easy-to-use design that allows multiple pill schedules, reminders to refill and also checks surrounding pharmacies on the best price for each medication.
HERO
The HERO sits on your countertop like a Keurig, but dispenses something a little more vital than coffee: your medication, sorted into a little cup just when you need it. This futuristic-looking device stores 10 different medications that you don’t even need to sort (just dump each med into its own container) before putting them into the machine, eliminating a chance for error. Plus, an accompanying app sends you reminders, alerts and detailed insights on your and your family’s pill usage. In addition to its functionality, it’s just plain cool.
PillDrill
What if a medication management system could not only track what pills you’ve taken, but how you’re feeling, too? Enter PillDrill, a new medication management system consisting of the Hub (the brains of the operation), the Pill Strip (a daily pill case), Scanning Tags (to put on your own pill bottles) and the Mood Cube (to track your mood or pain levels), this system reminds you when it’s time for a dose using audiovisual cues from the Hub, or as an alert on your smartphone if you download the app. To use it, you organize your pills into the Pill Strip, or place Scanning Tags on your own pill bottles, and when you’ve taken a dose, simply scan the Pill Strip or the Scanning Tag and PillDrill logs your progress. But one of the most unique features? The Mood Cube, with sides labeled great, good, OK, bad and awful, can also be scanned onto the Hub any time, to help you track your general mood, well-being or even pain levels. That makes us feel: great.
Article originally published April 29, 2016
