Statistics show that almost half of all Americans are prescribed to take at least one daily pill yet adherence to medication prescription is a real challenge.  That is until now.  Vitality has introduced a new product and program to help us along with our medication compliance.

Their product is called GlowCap and has been developed as more than just a medication reminder, it’s a complete program for medication adherence.  The actual product consists of a special cap that twits onto normal medication bottles and it contains a small wireless computer chip that sends a signal to a receiver that plugs into a wall outlet.  The receiver on the wall has a light that glows orange when it is time to take your pills.  But the chip does much more than that, it enables 4 services that become a total medication health wellness program

 

Benefits of the GlowCaps program include:

• When it’s time to take the medication, the GlowCaps flash, they play a ringtone so you don’t forget and they can even call your home phone.
• Medication adherence data is even collected and sent by email on a weekly basis to yourself, and also a family member or friend that you select if you choose.    
• The program can call with medication refill reminders and even coordinate with the patients pharmacy for timely prescription refills.
• The program also allows the patient to opt for a monthly printed report that can be sent to the patients doctor so that medication adherence can be confirmed.

According to tests performed by Vitality, high adherence to medications, taken for chronic disorders like diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, may reduce the annual health expenditure for these disorders by as much as 48%.  The idea is that if you take your medications as prescribed then you will spend less on treating those disorders when they get out of control because of non adherence.