Connected Healthcare for Individuals Living at Home With Chronic Conditions

Summary

Managing and taking medications as prescribed can be a difficult task. This is especially true for older adults living at home with chronic conditions while managing multiple prescribed medications. In response, Catalyst Healthcare has adopted an integrated medication dispensing system that intends to improve patient adherence to medications and quality of care through real-time pharmacists and caregiver support.Catalyst Healthcare has launched an integrated at-home medication dispenser system called spencer. Spencer is a natural extension that plugs into Catalyst's AdhereNet platform, connecting high-risk patients in home care setting to a multi-disciplinary care team in real-time. Study is funded by the Centre of Aging and Brain Health Innovation (CABHI).

Investigators are conducting a randomized controlled trial with a target sample size of 100 participants to examine the efficacy of an in-home electronic medication dispensing system (MDS) on improving medication adherence in community-dwelling older adults with chronic conditions. 50 of these participants will be assigned to the intervention group (medication management with Spencer) and 50 will be assigned to the control group (medication management without Spencer). Medication adherence and patient-related data will be collected over a six-month period. Participants health status and characteristics will be obtained through baseline assessment upon enrollment. A monthly follow-up survey will be completed to collect medication management and adherence data. Adherence data for spencer-users will be collected from Catalyst Healthcare technology platform. In the control group, adherence will be measured through monthly medication logs completed by participants.

Conditions

• Medication Adherence
• Medication Compliance
• Medication Nonadherence
• Hypertension
• Diabetes
• Arthritis
• Chronic Pain
• Anxiety Depression
• Asthma

Interventions

DEVICE

Spencer

The MDS dispenses medications on time with visual and audio reminders. The audio alert get louder if the plastic medication packet is not dispensed from the system. The MDS allows participants to dispense their medications early if they are going to be away from home. The system also displays personalized and health-condition specific questions. The pre-packaged medications are delivered by pharmacy that inserted directly into the spencer device. Spencer system is non-inclusive and approved by Health Canada.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation

  collaborator OTHER

• Catalyst Healthcare Ltd.

  collaborator INDUSTRY

• Alberta Health Services, Calgary

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Mubashir A Arain, PhD · Alberta Health services

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

50 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2019-03-01

Primary Completion

2020-07-31

Completion

2020-07-31

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations