Wireless News
10-18-2007
Aetna Foundation Funds Expansion of Medication Safety Monitoring Program
WIRELESS NEWS-October 18, 2007-Aetna Foundation Funds Expansion of Medication Safety Monitoring Program (C)2007 10Meters - http:// www.10meters.com
InforMedix Holdings, a provider of technology-based solutions focused on improving medication adherence and patients' overall health status, announced that the Aetna Foundation, the independent charitable and philanthropic arm of Aetna, Inc., has funded a study at the University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) utilizing InforMedix's Med-eMonitor System in patients with high risk of stroke and bleeding complications.
InforMedix's Med-eMonitor is an interactive 'smart pillbox' that is intended to enable patients to manage complex medication regimens and chronic illnesses at home. This program extends a previously successful study of Med-eMonitors by UPHS.
According to Troy Brennan, M.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Aetna, 'The Aetna Foundation is proud to sponsor the expansion of this highly successful initial program by making it available to additional patients and for a more extended time period. We believe it is important that Aetna take the lead in supporting innovative new techniques and technologies that improve health outcomes by monitoring patients in their homes and rapidly report the results. Aetna is supportive of the approach embodied in this program at Penn, as we believe that these patients will benefit by being better able to achieve their optimal health through improved medication and care plan adherence.'
'Fortune 500 companies and other large organizations worldwide are investing heavily to bring a new generation of home health monitoring appliances into routine use in patient homes,' said Bruce A. Kehr, M.D., InforMedix's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. 'We appreciate Aetna's pioneering role as a leading health insurer to support Drs. Stephen Kimmel and Kevin Volpp at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in providing for the expansion of their initial program's success to include a larger population.'
According to Drs. Stephen Kimmel and Kevin Volpp, 'We view this program, which can only be done with the InforMedix technology, as a potentially new type of healthcare intervention that will plausibly improve patient outcomes and lower health care costs. This approach could give patients at risk of stroke and medication-related side- effects an advantage that they could not receive through typical approaches at other anticoagulation clinics. Ultimately, if successful, this approach could be used for many different medications and medical conditions.'
Impressed by the preliminary results of the program thus far, the Aetna Foundation has committed to expand both the number of patients enrolled from twenty to one hundred and the length of the program from three months to six months.
This novel, rewards-based program uses incentives including a lottery system to reward patients who adhere properly to their medications and has already successfully enrolled and treated patients who are currently taking anticoagulant medication. This 'blood thinner' medication is used to prevent blood clots from forming in the body that cause life-threatening strokes and pulmonary embolism (an often fatal blood clot in the lungs). Taking too little medication results in increased incidence of stroke and pulmonary embolism, while taking too much medication may cause life- threatening excessive bleeding.
Every forty-two seconds in the United States, someone experiences a stroke. This fact translates into approximately 760,000 new or recurrent strokes in the United States each year. It is the second leading cause of mortality in the world after cardiovascular disease, the third leading cause of death in the United States, and is the leading cause of long-term disability. The annual cost of stroke related care in the U.S. was projected to exceed $58 billion in 2006. (Medscape Neurology & Neurosurgery 3, 2001. Managed Healthcare Executive, April 1, 2006, and the American Stroke Association (ASA).)
The Penn researchers include: Kevin Volpp, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine and Health Care Systems, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Wharton School; and Stephen E. Kimmel, M.D., M.S.C.E., Director, Cardiovascular Epidemiology, and Associate Professor of Medicine & Epidemiology University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
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(Copyright M2 Communications Ltd. 18, 2007)
