INSIGHTFIL — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: 100

Description

Abstract Approximatelyof Americans takeor more prescription medicationsoften as a part of complex drug regimens that challenge adherencecontributing to treatment failures and costing US healthcare $billion or moreannuallyDifficulties managing polypharmacy negatively impact all stakeholderspatientsdoctorspharmacies and insurersThe problem is particularly significant in elder careas the likelihood of developing chronic conditions treatable by medication increases and multiple characteristics of this population pose assorted risks for medication errorsCustom multimedication packaging has shown promise in addressing some of the drivers of non adherencebut offers no solution for other drivers such as errors in drug reconciliationhealthcare practitioner involvementcare coordination and patient educationThe multiple stakeholders in medication prescribing and utilization practices constitute a variety of potential sources of medication management problemsbut also a diverse set of clients for polypharmacy solutionsInsightfil is developing a comprehensive medication management solution that incorporates convenience packaging with passive detection of medication adherence to provide essential and medicine related information in real time generating a channel for more accurate information exchange between all stakeholders for improved patient care and satisfactionIn previous workwe designedbuilt and tested a robotic workstation that offers innovative patient drug packagingwhich is unique in its ability to avoid medication cross contaminationLeveraging our successful launch of the medication dispensing robotthe goal of this Phase I SBIR is to develop instrument pill pouches and use the resulting realtime adherence data to improve the way patients are nudged into increased adherence through more personalized and context specific communicationsToward this end we propose Specific Aims to develop three components of the technologya near field communicationNFCsensor that is compatible with the emerging industry standard for custom fill convenience packaginga smartphone app that reads the NFC tags to verify that a medication pack has been openedanda smartphone app to deliver real timecontext sensitive patient messaging based on medication use patternsOnce the prototype system is developedwe will conduct a pilot studySpecific Aimofmultimedication users to provide preliminary evidence of the efficacy and acceptability of Insightfilandapos s platform technologyAfter establishing proof of concept through the completion of the SBIR Phase I projectwe will refine the resulting prototype technology into a more robust commercial grade system with an expanded features patient app ready for pilot deployment inpharmacies servingpatientsPhase IISignificantlythe research design required for commercialization will not require FDA approval for deployment in pharmaciesPharmacists will follow all regulations applicable to the dispensing of medications Narrative Approximatelyof Americans takeor more prescription medicationsoften as a part of complex drug regimens that challenge adherencecontributing to treatment failures and costing US healthcare billions of dollarsDifficulties managing polypharmacy negatively impact all stakeholderspatientsdoctorspharmacies and insurersInsightfil is developing a comprehensive medication management solution that incorporates convenience packaging with passive detection of medication adherence to provide essential and medicinerelated information in real time generating a channel for more accurate information exchange between all stakeholders for improved patient care and satisfaction