Human Medication Noncompliance

PROBLEM
Noncompliance is the failure to take or administer medication as prescribed. According to the latest issue of the MERCK MANUAL: "Studies of patient behavior show that only about half the people who leave a doctor's office with a prescription take the drug as directed. Among the many reasons people give for not complying with a treatment plan, forgetfulness is the most common."

Noncompliance leads to poor patient outcome because of sub-optimal therapeutic response, and increases the cost burden to society for unnecessary or preventable hospital admissions.

TARGET
Those administering their own prescribed medication and persons responsible for monitoring the medications of others. Approximately 90 million people in the US take medications for chronic conditions.

 IMPACT
Aside from the pharmacological implications, non-compliance impacts the US economy with losses in the billions of dollars, with nearly $77 Billion in excess annual medical care, according to a Health Economics analysis by the University of Arizona's School of Pharmacy.

SOLUTION
ALRT Medication Reminders use both audio and visual cues to alert the patient or caregiver that it's time for medication to be taken.

EFFECTIVENESS
The effectiveness of the ALRT Medication Reminder has been demonstrated clinically. In an Abstract presented to the 12th World AIDS Conference in Geneva in 1998, it was shown to improve the frequency of patients taking 100% of their medication doses by 97% and to improve the frequency of patients taking 100% of their medication doses at the correct time of day by 168%.

Pet Medication Noncompliance

PROBLEM
Pet medication noncompliance is the failure to administer medication as prescribed. Among the many reasons people give for not complying with a treatment plan, forgetfulness is the most common.

Pet owner noncompliance in the administration of pet medications is well documented:

• Over 50% of pet owners fail to administer pet medications as directed
• Over 30% of medication doses are not administered in a prescribed period of time
• Pet owners are busy and often forget to give their pet its medications

TARGET
Those households administering medications to their pets:

• Over 60% of dog owners and 30% or cat owners have their pet on a once-a month heartworm prevention or a once-a-month flea control product

IMPACT
Failure to administer medications can result in treatment failure or the onset of disease.

• A missed dose of flea of tick medication can lead to recurrence of infestation
• Missed doses of heartworm medication can lead to pet illness

In addition, failure to control parasites can lead to transmission of parasitic infections to humans, especially children.

SOLUTION
ALRT Medication Reminders use both audio and visual cues to remind a pet owner either daily or monthly to administer pet medications.

EFFECTIVENESS
Compliance is improved with the ALRT™ Pet Reminder, which utilizes sophisticated microchip technology, is backed by a 12 month warranty and can be programmed with the touch of a single button.