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Financial Rewards for Medication Adherence

Article

A new app to help with a patient's medication adherence has introduced numerous features that may be beneficial, including a rewards system.

This article published with permission from iMedicalApps.com.

Medication reminder apps have been reviewed frequently on iMedicalApps, and have seen numerous publications in the literature on their impact on patient medication adherence.

Mango Health has developed an app to help with a patient’s medication adherence, and has introduced numerous features that may be beneficial. Perhaps one of the standout features of the app is that it seeks to be a relatively engaging app for patients, in order to encourage continual usage and rewards for compliance.

User Interface

Initially, upon opening the app, the user is brought to a home screen that looks visually appealing with the primary features predominately displayed. These include the patient’s medication schedule, the level of points collected due to actions (e.g. recording medications taken, adherence streak), his or her medications displayed, and an inbox of updates or alerts.

Other sub-menus include the patient’s medication history, ability to add meds, and list of medications.

The medication schedule is intuitive and easy to navigate. It allows the user to set the time to take their medication rather easily. This includes PRN/“as needed” medications and those with set schedules.

An interesting feature is patients can also record their moods as they take their medications, such as feeling well or not well. This could be quite beneficial especially in regards to certain disease states (e.g. chronic pain).

The app will send alerts through the phone to remind the user to take his or her medications as scheduled. The patient can either hit snooze and the app will remind them in 15 minutes, or record he or she took the medication then.

A shortcoming of the app is the inability to record a patient may have taken the medication past the scheduled time. This could be a shortcoming when trying to establish overall adherence history.

Perhaps one of the most interesting features of the app is the reward system, which gives patients points that can be redeemed based on their adherence to medications via the app.

While current points rewards are dedicated toward coupons, it would be interesting to see if, in the future, an insurance company could use such data to reward its patients with incentives such as lower premiums.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

• User Interface: 4—Very easy to use and navigate though some areas could use improvement

• Multimedia usage: 4—Good use of rewards and other integrative features to encourage adherence

• Price: 5—Free

• Real world applicability: 5—App could be very beneficial for patients looking to track their medications

Device used to conduct review: iPhone 4

App Version: 2.01

To read the full review, see the original article.

This post does not establish, nor is it intended to establish, a patient physician relationship with anyone. It does not substitute for professional advice, and does not substitute for an in-person evaluation with your healthcare provider. It does not provide the definitive statement on the subject addressed. Before using these apps please consult with your own physician or healthcare provider as to the apps validity and accuracy as this post is not intended to affirm the validity or accuracy of the apps in question. The app(s) mentioned in this post should not be used without discussing the app first with your healthcare provider.

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