Improving Medication Adherence with Care4Today Mobile Platform

This article published with permission from iMedicalApps.com.

Janssen Healthcare Innovation has launched a new mobile application called Care4Today™, which it is describing as a “mobile adherence medication reminder platform.”

The mobile platform is designed to improve adherence to treatment regimens through reminders to take medications, refill prescriptions and visit health care providers. See below how it already has several competitors in the medication adherence category and what features may set it apart.

The Care4Today™ application works with nearly any mobile phone with web browsing capabilities, including iPhone, Blackberry and Android devices, as well as many feature phones.

As many as 50% of patients in the U.S. don’t take their medications as prescribed, contributing to approximately 3.5 million hospitalizations and 125,000 deaths annually in the U.S., costing an estimated $290 billion in avoidable medical spending every year. According to the 2012 Semi-Annual Wireless Industry Survey conducted by CTIA, 91% of Americans carry a cell phone and studies have shown text message reminders are an effective way to improve medication adherence.

The application uses two-way messaging — each message requires a response — to keep track of adherence and establish a regular dosing routine. It maintains a record of user activity to allow self-monitoring of progress, and if users so choose, this data can also be shared with their health care provider.

“Janssen Healthcare Innovation is developing products and services to transform the patient experience and promote better health outcomes,” said Diego Miralles, M.D., head, Janssen Healthcare Innovation. “We have identified improving medication adherence as one of our key initiatives.

“The Care4Today™ Mobile Adherence platform can help overcome the number one barrier to consumers taking their medications by providing customized reminders delivered via secure messaging directly to their cell phone, a device that most people carry with them at all times.”

The Care4Today™ Mobile Adherence app can be downloaded directly from the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store or Care4Today™ website. All users are instructed to go to the website to register and receive a temporary password.

Once registered, users can set medication reminders and update information from either their mobile device or the website.

Care4Today has a lot of competition in the mobile medication adherence space, including among others:

Vitality GlowCaps

CellepathicRx

Pillboxie

HealthPrize

Each has its own unique features to distinguish it from the others, but little has been done in terms of comparative effectiveness research to determine which leads to the highest adherence rates.

The Care4Today™ Mobile Adherence platform has a number of advanced security features to protect the privacy of users, including:

Secure two-way messaging with up to 256 bit data encryption

All accounts are password protected

A user’s identity is not associated with their medication adherence data

Janssen does not have access to user identities

Message reminders can be customized to be direct or discreet

If a mobile device is lost or stolen all information can be deleted through the website

The following video outlines the features of the Care4Today™ platform.