"Smart pillboxes" trial in USA to improve treatment compliance

The US state of Tennessee's Medicare program has announced a project involving 270 senior citizens to improve treatment compliance and reduce hospitalizations caused by errors. The Med-eMonitor is a system that allows monitoring of patients' health, including blood sugar levels, issues warning reminders for patients to take medications and alerts health carers if the wrong dose or drug is taken.

The company manufacturing the $60 per month system, Informedix, told the Tennessean newspaper that studies show that over 90% compliance rates are achieved with the Med-eMonitor, compared with 40%-50% for non-users. Separate reports in the journals Drugs & Aging and Cancer recorded patients using drugs as directed in only about 50% of cases, with at least 20% quitting chronic disease treatments altogether within a year.