SEQUON, INC — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: 104

Description

Project Summary Abstract Individuals suffering from Serious and Persistent Mental IllnessesSPMIare at risk for adverse psychiatricsomatic healthand social outcomes with higher rates of heart diseasehigh blood pressureobesityand diabetesEssential to controlling chronic psychiatric and health disorders is improved care coordination and adherence to prescriptions that address the symptoms and causes of these health conditionsUnfortunatelyadherence rates for individuals diagnosed with SPMI isof prescribed somatic and psychiatric medicationswell under theconsidered adherentImproving adherence is challenging for community mental health providers due to difficulty identifying non adherent patients and devising personalized interventionsThe lack of real time information on patient adherence leads to medication and dosing changes which complicate patient adherencefurther interfering with the provider patient relationship and making care coordination more difficultTo address these issues Terrapin Pharmacy and Medherentdeveloped an integrated medication dispensing device and adherence support platformMedherentis asmartvending machine that incorporates a networked Android tablet and is loaded with adayssupply of the consumer s medications prepared in multi dose packets by the pharmacy s robotic technologyUsing the cellular Android tabletthe device s activation by the consumers causes an electronic medication record to be populated showing that medication to be taken and the time of dispensingTerrapin Pharmacy and the University of Maryland have been pilot testing the Medherent device and system in the homes ofcommunity mental health clientsDuring this pilotconsumers have independently dispensed their medication at a rate exceedingpercent of their prescribed daily dosing schedulesand both consumers and providers report high levels of satisfaction with the deviceThis FastTrack Phase I and Phase II project builds on the pilot testing of the MedherentdevicePhase I will test the usability of the devicedevelop manuals and interventions built on the device and enhance the interface and connectivity of the platformPhase II proposes a randomized stepped wedge design study withclients to assess the correspondence between Medherent activation and medication adherence and the clinical effects of the Medherent device and to further refine the device and platform s interfaceThe Phase II study will yield a fully functionalmarket ready adherence platform and pharmacy service with data to quantify the effect on client adherence and manualized interventions for deployment by community mental health agenciesThe primary target market for the platform is community mental health agencies serving individuals with SPMI or other health care entities that serve chronically ill individuals requiring adherence supportThroughout the study periodexisting relationships with the community health agencies and providers will be further developed to ensure that the platform meets customer needs Project Narrative Maintaining high levels of adherence to psychiatric and somatic medication and improving coordination of care is necessary to improve the health of individuals living with severe mental illnessCurrent methods for identifying non adherent individuals and personalizing care is limited This Fast Track Phase IPhase II SBIR project will rigorously evaluate the Medherentmedication management devicethe proposed project will yield a market readyscalableplatform for improving consumer adherenceproviding real time feedback to providers about client adherence and provide a platform for future integration of other real time health information to improve coordination of care and responsiveness