The long-term objective of this project is to develop and test a novel and innovative system that is designed to improve the medication compliance o older persons significantly. This system is designed for persons on multiple medications who want to comply with their regimen but need a memory aid. Noncompliance is believed to be responsible for nearly one out of five hospitalizations, and thus increased health care costs. The Phase 1 research focused on small scale human factors tests, the second phase will include field tests, and the third phase will commercialize the system. The Phase 2 field tests will be performed with 40 experimental subjects between 65 and 84 years old. An additional 40 persons will be in the control group. The experimental subjects will use an electronic device and their medication compliance will be monitored for three months. The reliability of the system and ease of use also will be evaluated.
; An innovative device that reminds patients when and how to take their medications and provides a compliance record for health care providers. It can also remind patients about physician appointments and prescription refills.
