Electronic Medication Packaging devices (EMP) and Electronic Medication Reminder devices (ePill)

Medication nonadherence, which has been estimated to affect 28%to 31% of US patients with hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes, may be improved by electronic medication packaging (EMP) devices (adherence-monitoring devices incorporated into the packaging of a prescription medication).

Electronic medication packaging devices / Electronic medication reminders / e-pill® Multi-Alarm TimeCap / Prescript TimeCap (Wheaton Medical Technologies)

Medication adherence impact (JAMA): Overall, the effect estimates for differences in mean adherence ranged from a decrease of 2.9% to an increase of 34.0%, and the those for differences in the proportion of patients defined as adherent ranged from a decrease of 8.0% to an increase of 49.5%

Conclusions and Relevance (JAMA): Many varieties of EMP devices exist. However, data supporting their use are limited, with variability in the quality of studies testing EMP devices. Devices integrated into the care delivery system and designed to record dosing events are most frequently associated with improved adherence, compared with other devices.

Learn More (PubMed) | Full Text (JAMA) | ORDER Prescript TimeCap

Higher-quality evidence is needed to determine the effect, if any, of these low-cost interventions on medication nonadherence and to identify their most useful components.