Adherent Health announces results of 2014 Patient Preference Study

Apr 3 2014

Adherent Health, LLC, a mobile health engagement advisory focused on medication safe-use, adherence, and health outcomes attainment, announced today the results of its 2014 Patient Preference Study which surveyed the mobile app behaviors and medication support preferences of 2,216 prescription-taking patients aged 18-65+.  Conducted in the first quarter of 2014, key study findings include:

Most patients taking prescription medicine (72%) also use mobile apps (Android smartphone, iPhone, Android tablet, iPad, or Kindle Fire),

Mobile app adoption rates are high across all medication-taking adult age groups: 93% (age 18-24), 90% (age 25-34), 88% (age 35-44), 80% (age 45-54), 66% (age 55-64), and 50% (age 65+),

App-using patients prefer the privacy-protected single app Mobile Health Library (MHL) system (by a factor of 11 to 1) over email programs often offered by medication manufacturers.  This high preference for a privacy-protected single app, customized to a user's needs for medication education and support services, was observed across all adult age groups.

"This is a high rate of mobile app use among prescription-taking patients of all ages, including those 65+" remarked Michael A. Weber, MD, Professor of Medicine at the SUNY Downstate College of Medicine in Brooklyn, and Editor-In Chief of the Journal of Clinical Hypertension. "Apps represent an attractive communications medium to better support patient understanding, medication adherence, and medication safe-use," added Weber.

Approximately half of America's 187 million prescription-takers are non-adherent, meaning they do not take their medications as prescribed.

"I'm not surprised that most patients would prefer a single privacy-protected app that supports medication dosing reminders, ongoing education, and co-pay and affordability needs" said Amy C. Sidorski, MS, CRNP, BSN, RN of Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University, and member of the ONS:Edge Oncology Nurse Experts Panel.  "Especially one they receive from their physician or nurse," added Sidorski.

"The beauty of the MHL app system is that all aspects of chronic or acute care are in one place and very easy to navigate, where an email may only address one aspect of care," observed Patricia Trymbiski, DNP, CDE, BC-ADM, and Director of Diabetes Education at Doylestown Hospital. "Multiple emails from different manufacturers is too cumbersome.  Receiving a medication dosing reminder message has been scientifically proven to increase compliance," continued Trymbiski.

Among other study findings, prescription-taking patients using mobile apps were similar to their non-app using counterparts in terms of annual income, education level, and geographic region.

"My patients and families are of highly diverse socioeconomic and educational backgrounds.  But they all seem to have two things in common, high use of mobile devices, and wanting to get the most out of them," said Rajesh Sachdeo, MD, Clinical Professor of Neurology, Rutgers RWJ Medical School, and Director of the Epilepsy Program at the Jersey Shore Medical Center, and at the University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro.  "MHL apps with calendar-based diaries can add great value to the doctor-patient relationship, helping patients describe weeks or months worth of personal health history in a matter of minutes," continued Sachdeo.