Pfizer

RemindMEd

Case Study: RemindMEd

The Challenge
Faced with the global challenge of how to improve patients’ compliance with their medication programmes in a cost-effective, hard-hitting manner, Fine Healthcare created a programme that is believed to be a world-first.

The Solution
RemindMEd was the solution. Patient compliance was considerably improved through the use of proven, easily accessible technologies which included SMS messaging and linking call centre systems to a patient database.

At its heart, the programme needed to uphold all issues relating to patient confidentiality and the integrity of the relationship between patients, their doctors and pharmacists. In addition, the initiative had to prompt patients in an appropriate, convenient and affordable way.

RemindMed drove optimal patient compliance through ‘concordance’ and ‘convergence’. Concordance refers to the mutual understanding between patients and medical professionals regarding the barriers that prevent a patient from complying with his/her treatment programme. Concordance is achieved via two way communication about lifestyle factors, side-effects and other issues affecting a patient’s propensity to follow medication directions. Convergence occurs when communication techniques and technologies are merged to develop a viable, effective programme which facilitates concordance and compliance.

The RemindMEd programme began with one on one communication as doctors and pharmacists counselled patients on the need for optimal adherence and the consequences of sub-optimal compliance. Educational material which reinforced key messages were displayed in pharmacies and doctor’s rooms. Once a patient opted to sign up, his/her prescription details were entered into a database. The database then triggered a series of reminders that informed the patient what medication needed to be refilled and directed them to their chosen pharmacy. Pharmacy management received a daily email which informed them as to which patients and products were due to be collected within the week.

The Results
The convergence of existing technology and communication formats contributed to hassle-free implementation and the results were very encouraging. The programme involved 164 pharmacies and made use of an active database of 4 851 patients. Between 70 and 130 messages were sent to patients daily.