Patient Reward Platforms
Behavioral economics is an interesting thing, with multiple studies suggesting that rewarding patients financially could help lead to healthy behaviors (e.g., smoking cessation). Taking that into consideration, paying patients to take their medication seems a no brainer. Currently, many of these companies are testing their platforms within health institutions so it has yet to be determine which platform is yielding the ‘best’ result in improving adherence. Most of these companies are based around a mobile app at this time, and despite not being hardware focused, due to the type of intervention I am placing them here (as I have no intention in creating a list of medication adherence apps at any time - there are just to many).
Wellth
A new company based in NYC that pays patients to take their drugs (kindof). In essence, the platform works whereby a patient enrolls into the Wellth system, and everytime they are to take a dose of their medication, they use the Wellth app to verify they took the drug (by scanning it). The mechanic is that the patient will be given a set amount of money to be adherent for a set time, and failure will lead to lost money (essentially loss incentives). Currently the company is focused on chronic disease management and post-discharge care.
Research:
ClinicalTrials.gov lists several studies using Wellth
Sempre Health
Sempre takes a different tactic to encouraging patients to be adherent. Patients are enrolled and receives a discount code that will lower the copayment of their drug at the pharmacy - as long as she fills on time. The patient will not be penalized if they refill late (in other words the copayment will not be higher than covered), but the benefit is that on-time refills will be rewarded, with he assumption that a patient that picks up their drug may be more adherent.
Research:
Sempre states they have internal data showing the value of their program but no published literature.
HealthPrize
Perhaps the oldest and most well known company in this category, HealthPrize has been around since 2009 and has raised over $13M for its platform to get patients adherent and informed. You see, their platform works on a gamification scheme where patients are to aim for streaks of habits (e.g., taking their medication) and will receive an award. Additionally, patients can also engage in medical learning to increase their health literacy, making this platform a bit more holistic.
Research:
The company lists a page dedicated towards their research as white papers.
Mango Health
A free app that patients can use to organize and keep track of what medications to take on a daily basis. The one item about this app that sets it apart is the gamification mechanic that rewards patients with store coupons and gift cards the longer they are adherent to their therapy.
Research:
No research was found using Mango Health.
Perx
An Australian based start-up that has created a program that uses a combination of behavioural science and consumer tactics to engage patients and promote positive health habits like medication adherence. This includes engaging gamification, memorable rewards, intrinsic challenges and a supportive patient community all to motivate patients to their best health. It seems their system works by randomly rewarding users for continued documentation of their adherence after demonstrating some period of adherence with the system.
Research:
Currently engaged in an 12-month RCT with the University of Sydney.