Health Tech Companies Use Rewards to Improve Therapy Outcomes

Good patient behavior can keep you healthy and save you money at the pharmacy.

Sempre Health, a digital health technology company that has a mobile, text-based platform that gives patients financial rewards when they refill medications on time.

The aim is to improve “medication adherence” and make prescriptions more affordable for patients. 

Patients find the cash discounts to be a powerful incentive, according to testimonies that Sempre Health provided.

“This offering has meant the world to me. I did not take this medication every day before. I used it sparingly, as I could not afford to refill it every month. Now I’m able to better afford my medication as prescribed,” said one patient already enrolled in the program.

What is Medication Adherence?

In the U.S. four billion prescriptions are written every year. 

However, 1 in 5 prescriptions are never filled and only half of filled prescriptions are taken correctly.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), medication adherence is taking medications correctly as prescribed by their doctors, meaning the right dose, at the right time, in the right way and frequency. 

Medical adherence requires getting prescriptions filled, taking medications on time, and understanding the directions.

Pharmacy healthcare experts claim that medication adherence can impact a patient’s health and recovery more than the actual treatment.

Challenges and Effects

The top three challenges to medication adherence are:

• Forgetfulness
• Low health literacy
• Ability to pay

Medication non-adherence is the leading cause of hospitalization, ER visits and disease progression in the United States.

As explained in U.S. Pharmacist, “Medication non-adherence can account for up to 50% of treatment failures, around 125,000 deaths, and up to 25% of hospitalizations each year in the United States.”   Improving adherence can bring patients better health while lowering costs for everyone in the healthcare system. 

Sempre Health’s New Approach 

Sempre is tackling two of the challenges at the same time, forgetfulness, and affordability. 

The company sends enrolled patients text messages offering discounts that encourage them to fill and pick up their medications quickly.

A text message might offer a patient a discounted copay to pick up the prescription within the week and another, higher price if he or she waits.

It’s a similar approach to “good driver” programs offered by car insurance companies.  

Based on several internally and externally validated studies, Sempre Health claims that its program can boost medication adherence by greater than 20%

Certain therapies may also be targeted.  For example, eligible patients who refill their prescriptions on time and as prescribed for certain asthma therapies can receive discounts on their medications throughout the course of their therapy.  The program specifically targets the Merck & Co. asthma medications, Dulera and Asmanex.  

Sempre Health also works with health plans to adjust copays based on patient adherence for a seamless solution so patients can receive the discount at the pharmacy when the medication is dispensed. 

Final Thoughts

Effective interventions using digital tools to support medication adherence include:

• Counseling and access to pharmacy team members
• Mobile text messaging for communication
• Simplifying medication regimens and packaging

Sempre has taken an innovative approach to improving medication adherence by focusing on a key intervention through mobile text messaging.  In addition, they have worked for a seamless integration with companies and payers to help patients save money and improve their health while following their doctors’ orders.  

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