What is a Medication Reminder?
The NowPatient Medication Reminder is a helpful tool that alerts you when to take your medication as prescribed, at the right time.
Who is this service beneficial for?
It is particularly useful for individuals who are:
prescribed more than one medication and finding it difficult to remember when to take their medication dose
prescribed medication that has non-standard or complex dosing times
How do I set up the service to get reminder alerts?
The Medication Reminder service can be set up from your NowPatient account. Navigate to the tools section and select Medication Reminder. From here, you can use the action button to add a medications or non medication items, and set associated dosing schedules.
Can I use the service for non-prescription items like vitamins?
Yes. There is a free-form field where you can manually add your non-prescription item.
Can I use the service if I am being treated with a short term acute medication?
Yes. When you add your medication, the next screen will ask you if you want to time-limit the reminders. Simply select the start date of your treatment and the end date of your treatment. You can then follow the remaining steps to complete the set up.
How will I get the reminder alerts?
We will send you a notification into the App and if you have downloaded the App to your device, we will send push notifications. When you click the notification, your Medication Reminder screen will open, where you can confirm if you have taken the medication(s).
What happens if I miss my dose and who is notified?
If you miss a dose, we will send you a notification. This is to inform you that we have recorded you as having missed your dose.
When you set up the service, you can nominate details of a family member or caregiver. You can add their number into the service set up and if you miss a dose, we can also notify them as well.
Follow the links below to see what you should do if you miss a dose of your medication
Do I need to pay for the service?
No, it won’t cost you anything, it’s totally FREE.
What is the Medication Adherence Score that appears on my account dashboard?
NowPatient uses a proprietary scoring system that gives you a visual indication of how well you are at taking your medication as prescribed and on-time. The nearer you are to 100, means you are taking your medication as prescribed and on-time. The score is aggregated if you are taking more than one medication and is calculated as the % of doses taken against the total number of doses prescribed. It is also weighted across the number of medications monitored and the number of days data is collected per medication.
What are the consequences of poor Medication Adherence
Non-adherence to prescription medications is a major problem, leading to over $100 billion in avoidable hospitalizations and 89,000 premature deaths annually.
Why is the Medication Adherence Score important?
The score is important because it can help you clinician understand your overall health profile and habits. For example, if you adherence score is low, the prescriber may want to give you a medication form that can be taken once a day rather than three times a day.
Medication adherence is the key to achieving your therapeutic goals and improving your outcomes. Poor or non-adherence leads to reduced clinical benefit and generates significant waste. Making sure you take your medications correctly and at the right time helps you get the best results from your treatment.
Is the score impacted if I have taken my medication at the correct time, but I have ignored the alert reminder?
No. We do not use ‘ignore’ events in the calculation, so this will not affect your score.