Need Help Taking Medicines On Time? There’s an App for That

Janssen Healthcare Innovation has launched a new mobile platform designed for most smart phones to improve adherence to treatment regimens.

Care4Today Mobile Adherence, a secure messaging platform, helps patients adhere to their care plan through reminders to take medications, refill prescriptions, and visit healthcare providers.

The Care4Today Mobile Adherence platform works with almost any phone with web browsing capabilities, regardless of platform or service provider, including iPhone, BlackBerry and Android devices, as well as many feature phones. The mobile adherence application can be used for any kind of prescription or over-the-counter medication or nutritional supplement.

In addition, the application can provide customized reminders delivered via secure messaging directly to consumers’ cell phone to help them overcome barriers when it comes to taking their medications.

Studies have shown that up to 50 percent of patients in the United States don't take their medications as prescribed. There are a variety of reasons why people don't take their medication, but the most common reason cited is that people simply forget. Medication non-adherence can result in serious health consequences, including delayed recovery, disease relapse, hospitalization and even death.

Medication nonadherence contributes to approximately 3.5 million hospitalizations and 125,000 deaths annually in the United States, costing the U.S. healthcare system an estimated $290 billion in avoidable medical spending.

With 91 percent of Americans currently carrying a cell phone, text message reminders are a useful tool that can help improve medication adherence. By using secure two-way messaging on web-enabled phones, the Care4Today Mobile Adherence platform sends self-directed reminder messages. Each message requires a response that is recorded in the user's adherence record stored on the secure and privacy-protected www.care4today.com website. Users can monitor their adherence record or print it to share with their healthcare provider if they choose to.

The Care4Today Mobile Adherence platform has a number of advanced security features to protect the privacy of users, including:

• Secure two-way messaging with data encryption.
• All accounts are password protected.
• A user's identity is not associated with their medication adherence data.
• Janssen does not have access to user identities.

If a user's mobile device is lost or stolen all information can be remotely deleted through the www.care4today.com website.

The Care4Today™ Mobile Adherence app can be downloaded directly from the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store or the www.care4today.com website. All users are instructed to go to the website to register and receive a temporary password. Once registered, users can set medication reminders and update information from either their mobile device or the website.