1 in 3 Caregivers Open to Using Smart Medicine Dispensers |
Caregivers are increasingly adopting connected health devices to reduce their workload and improve the quality of care of their care recipient. According to ON World’s Q4 2021 connected health survey with 900 informal caregivers of family members aged 65 and older found that 28% have used a smart medicine dispenser for their care recipient over the past 12 months or are planning to use one in the future. This survey found that 82% of the caregivers are “Likely” or “Very likely” to remotely share their care recipient’s health data with healthcare providers up from 56% in a previous survey completed in Q1 2020. Over half of the surveyed caregivers are likely to share their care recipient’s health data using a smartwatch or smartphone with 39% likely use a consumer owned vital sign monitor and 29% are likely to use a healthcare provided vital sign monitor. Most Likely Future Remote Sharing Method of Care Recipient’s Health Data, While not as popular as other connected health devices, smart medicine dispensers is used by 13% of the surveyed caregivers and another 15% are planning to use these in the future Medication compliance-- defined as consistently taking the correct dose of specific medications at the correct time-- is essential for positive health outcomes and managing costs. The National Institutes of Health estimates that medicine adherence could save a minimum of $100 billion per year due to avoiding adverse drug interactions, avoid falls, reducing hospital admissions and improving health outcomes. In the U.S., there were 4.4 billion retail drug prescriptions in 2019. Four in five of the prescriptions are for patients with chronic diseases, many of whom are seniors who use 20 or more prescriptions per year. Studies have found that half of chronic disease patients do not adhere to their physicians’ long-term therapy recommendations. This is especially true for the 1 in 5 seniors over 65 years old who have mild cognitive impairment. IoT technologies such as sensor enabled automated dispensers and AI/machine learning promise to significantly improved adherence as well as patient outcomes and satisfaction levels compared with non IoT solutions such as automatic dispensing systems and RFID/barcode technology. In addition to dosage tracking and automated dispensing, smart dispensing systems provide personalized reminders and a variety of telehealth options to connect patients with caregivers and health providers as well as integration with cloud-based data analytics systems. These systems also provide cloud-based data analytics and the ability to connect with other digital health systems for remote monitoring and virtual doctor visits. These features will be required for health systems to be reimbursed using the newly created Remote Therapeutic Monitoring (RTM) CPT codes by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in the latest Physician’s Fee Schedule. Total revenues for Internet-connected medication management will reach $276 million in 2026 up from $45 million in 2020, a 35% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). For more information about our customized research studies and datasets, please contact us at:
About ON World: Back to News 03/08/2022 |
