Intelligent Medical Devices Compliment In-home Patient Care
Big Data, smart-home technologies, and telemedicine are converging to provide more accessible, intelligent healthcare that promises better patient outcomes. Innovations fueled by health-related data collected through wearables like smartwatches and remote patient monitoring translate into trillions of data points—Big Data, through analysis, can identify trends that provide medical and pharmaceutical companies information for developing solutions.
SC House Calls (SCHC), a proponent of Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM), has found, through its partnership with SC Home Rx, another success with an intelligent medication dispensing system developed by Livi Medical Services. The dispensing system assists patients and caregivers with medication adherence in the home. Medication adherence is especially critical among patients suffering from chronic conditions that require strict compliance to medication regimes.
According to the World Health Organization, medication nonadherence accounts for up to 50 percent of treatment failures, approximately 125,000 deaths, and an estimated 25 percent hospitalizations each year. Adherence rates of 80 percent and above are considered optimal for therapeutic effectiveness—the WHO estimates current adherence within chronic medications to only be around 50 percent.
The introduction of technology like Livi and other technologies that improve medication adherence reduces a patient's risk of being hospitalized. The Livi machine handles a 90-day supply of 15 different medications and dispenses each as prescribed. The technology uses visual and audio reminders and an online component that alerts caregivers via email when doses are missed.
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