The app will help keep track of medication
A new innovative health app has been launched to help people stay on track and in control of their medicines and treatments, which is perfect for busy families with plenty on their mind.
Janssen Healthcare Innovation (JHI) has launched Care4Today Mobile Health Manager, a free and secure mobile app and website designed to enable people to stay on track and in control of their medicines and treatments.
The platform generates medication dosing and repeat prescription reminders with the aim of improving medicines adherence. It also provides family members and carers the opportunity to provide support through a digital network.
Lack of medicine adherence causes significant problems not only for those relying on medication to manage their condition but also for the wider UK economy. It is a leading cause of delayed recovery and hospitalisation, with approximately £466m spent on medication-related hospitalisations each year in the UK. In addition, around £100-£150 million worth of medicines go unused in the UK each year, potentially wasting much needed funds.
There are many reasons people don’t take their medicines as prescribed, including “simply forgetting”. Today’s busy lifestyles and distractions make forgetting to take medications common, but can lead to serious health consequences, including delayed recovery, disease relapse and hospitalisation. Setting the correct dose and timing is fundamental and an aspect of treatment that can be overlooked. In the UK, only ten days after starting a medicine, almost a third of patients are already not taking the medicine as directed by their healthcare professional.
Care4Today™ Mobile Health Manager aims to support individuals in the UK who take a medicine regularly, such as the 15 million with long-term conditions, by helping to remind them, and their families and carers, which medication they should be taking and when. Since 97% of people in the UK carry a mobile phone with them, using this free technology can help support their self-care by providing a tailored reminder service and a list of all their medications at the touch of a button.
Care4Today™ Mobile Health Manager can be used to monitor any medication by any manufacturer across any disease area, with over 20,000 registered treatments pre-loaded and users able to quickly and easily add other medicines themselves. This makes it an invaluable tool for patients, families, carers and healthcare professionals alike to manage chronic conditions which may have complex treatment regimens such as diabetes, cancer and HIV, providing peace of mind. Care4Today™ Mobile Health Manager is not just for pill reminders; it can also be helpful for simple but important everyday remedies such as vitamins and minerals supplements, contraceptives, allergy medicines, or activities such as taking a walk.
Created by Janssen Healthcare Innovation, part of Janssen-Cilag Ltd, and available free from the iTunes App Store and Google Play, Care4Today™ Mobile Health Manager sends reminders to the user to take their medication and renew their prescription. It also features built-in reports that track when and how medicines are taken over a period of time – these reports can be shared with a healthcare professional directly from the mobile phone during appointments. In addition to working on all smartphones, the online, web-based platform can also be configured to send reminders via text messages to those people with a more standard mobile phone handset.
Designed in consultation with patients, clinicians and pharmacists, the app also features the Care4Family™ platform. This function allows people to connect their profile to a designated relative, friend or carer who can then see whether they have taken their medication as prescribed or receive an alert if a dose is missed. As such, the platform can provide peace of mind to users’ loved ones, including parents with children managing chronic conditions whilst at university and those with older relatives taking multiple medications.
“We are delighted to launch Care4Today™ Mobile Health Manager in the UK as part of our ongoing commitment to find innovative ways to help improve the lives and outcomes of those with health conditions,” said David Tripi, Head of Enabling Technologies, Janssen Healthcare Innovation. “We recognise the crucial role families and carers can play in a patient’s journey to health and the Care4Today™ Mobile Health Manager platform allows them to more easily support those they care for.”
For more information or to sign up for free, download the Care4Today™ Mobile Health Manager app or visit: mhm.care4today.com.
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