Methods and systems for medication management

• US 7,956,727 B2
• Filed: 03/24/2008
• Issued: 06/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Carespeak Communications, Inc. (Optimizerx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Carespeak Communications, Inc. (Optimizerx Corporation)
• Inventors: Loncar, Srdjan
• Primary Examiner(s): Swarthout; Brent
• Application Number:
  US12/054,216
• Publication Number:
  US 20080238666A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,170 Days
• Field of Search: 34053912-53929, 34030916-30907, 340/573.1, 340/309.8, 340/309.9, 705 2- 3, 368/10, 368/13, 604/131, 600/300
• US Class Current: 340/309.16
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/24 Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/40 relating to drugs, e.g. their side effects or intended usage

Abstract

A method of monitoring a patient'"'"'s compliance with a medication regimen may include identifying a patient, identifying a medication prescribed to the patient and determining one or more intake times associated with the medication. For each intake time, an alert reminding the patient to take the medication may be generated, and the alert may be transmitted to a mobile device associated with the patient. Receipt of the alert by the mobile device may trigger one or more of an audible alarm, a visual alarm and a tactile alarm on the mobile device. If an indication of compliance is not received from the mobile device within a predefined period of time, a caregiver associated with the patient may be notified.

Claims

1. A method of verifying compliance with a health regimen, the method comprising:

sending, by a computing device, a first SMS message to a cellular telephone associated with a patient at an identified time, wherein the first SMS message is configured to instruct the patient to perform an action;

receiving, by the computing device, from the cellular telephone, within a first period of time, a second SMS message comprising a measurement associated with the action; and

if the measurement is not within a range of values, sending, by the computing device, a third SMS message to one or more of the cellular telephone associated with the patient and a cellular telephone associated with a caregiver, wherein the third SMS message is configured to notify one or more of the patient and the caregiver that the measurement is outside of the range.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second SMS message comprises one or more of the following:

a glucose level;

a temperature;

a blood pressure; and

a weight.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an expected intake number, wherein the expected intake number represents a number of times the patient is directed to take a medication in a second period of time, wherein the second SMS message comprises an actual intake number representing a number of times the patient has confirmed taking the medication in the second period of time.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein sending a third SMS message comprises sending a third SMS message to one or more of the cellular telephone associated with the patient and a cellular telephone associated with a caregiver in response to the actual intake number varying from the expected intake number.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first SMS message comprises one or more of the following:

a name of the medication;

a dosage of the medication;

a form of the medication;

an image of the medication;

a link to an image of the medication;

a name of a prescribing physician;

a phone number of the prescribing physician;

a name of a dispensing pharmacy;

a phone number of the dispensing pharmacy; and

an embedded link to one or more of the phone number of the prescribing physician and the phone number of the dispensing pharmacy.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first SMS message comprises a compliance code and one or more instructions regarding how to confirm compliance using the compliance code; and

the second SMS message comprises the compliance code.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising, in response to receiving the second SMS message, sending one or more instructions to the cellular telephone to deactivate one or more of an audible alarm, a visual alarm and a tactile alarm of the cellular telephone.

3. A method of confirming compliance with a medication alert, the method comprising:

sending, by a computing device to a mobile device, an alert to take a medication, wherein the alert is sent at an intake time associated with the medication, wherein the alert comprises a compliance code and one or more confirmation instructions regarding how to confirm compliance using the compliance code,

wherein the alert is configured to;

trigger one or more of an audible alarm, a visual alarm and a tactile alarm on the mobile device, and

cause information associated with the alert to be displayed to a patient on a display screen of the mobile device, wherein the information comprises the compliance code and the confirmation instructions;

receiving, by the computing device, confirmation of compliance provided by the patient via the mobile device;

and

in response to receiving the confirmation of compliance within a first period of time, sending, by the computing device, one or more instructions to deactivate one or more of the audible alarm, the visual alarm and the tactile alarm of the mobile device.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

sending, by the computing device, a notification to be displayed on the display screen of the mobile device if an actual intake number varies from an expected intake number, wherein the actual intake number represents a number of times the patient has confirmed taking the medication within a second period of time, wherein the expected intake number represents a number of times the patient is directed to take the medication in the second period of time.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the alert comprises one or more of the following:

an email;

a GPRS data packet;

a text message;

a multimedia message;

a one-way binary SMS message; and

a two-way binary SMS message.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the alert comprises one or more of the following:

a name of the medication;

a dosage of the medication;

a form of the medication;

an image of the medication;

a link to an image of the medication;

a name of a prescribing physician;

a phone number of the prescribing physician;

a name of a dispensing pharmacy;

a phone number of the dispensing pharmacy; and

an embedded link to one or more of the phone number of the prescribing physician and the phone number of the dispensing pharmacy.

7. A method of verifying compliance with a health regimen, the method comprising:

sending, by a computing device to a cellular telephone at an intake time, a first SMS message reminding a patient to perform an action associated with a health regimen;

receiving, by the computing device, a second SMS message within a first period of time, wherein the second SMS message comprises a measurement provided by the patient; and

in response to the measurement being outside of a range of values, sending, by the computing device to the cellular telephone, a third SMS message to be displayed on a display screen of the cellular telephone that alerts the patient that the measurement is outside of the range.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first SMS message comprises one or more of the following:

a name of the medication;

a dosage of the medication;

a form of the medication;

an image of the medication;

a link to an image of the medication;

a name of a prescribing physician;

a phone number of the prescribing physician;

a name of a dispensing pharmacy;

a phone number of the dispensing pharmacy; and

an embedded link to one or more of the phone number of the prescribing physician and the phone number of the dispensing pharmacy.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein one or more of the first SMS message and the second SMS message comprise a compliance code.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising, in response to receiving the second SMS message, sending one or more instructions to the cellular telephone to deactivate one or more of an audible alarm, a visual alarm and a tactile alarm of the cellular telephone.

16. The method of claim 7, wherein the second SMS message comprises one or more of:

a glucose level;

a temperature;

a blood pressure; and

a weight.