Catalyst Healthcare Announces Peer-Reviewed Publication in BMC Geriatrics

    KELOWNA, BC, January 27, 2021 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Catalyst Healthcare, a technology company helping people to take their medications as prescribed announces the BMC Geriatrics peer-reviewed publication of "Medication adherence support of an in-home electronic medication dispensing system for individuals living with chronic conditions: a pilot randomized controlled trial."

The study findings suggest that spencer medication dispensing system can be an effective, long-term solution to medication non-adherence in older adults experiencing chronic conditions and taking multiple medications and aging in place. The study found the technology encourages better consistency and improvement in medication adherence than simple, non-technological intervention.

"We are pleased with the results of this collaborative effort with Alberta Health Services investigating the benefit that spencer and associated healthcare support can bring to aging patients who wish to live at home and stay in their communities," said Catalyst Healthcare CEO Shane Bishop. "The findings demonstrate what we see every day – that patients with complex conditions on multiple medications can be effectively supported using health technology and community pharmacy monitoring that is available now across much of Canada and the US."

The potential for increasing medication adherence among older adults taking many medications to manage chronic diseases and wishing to age in place is encouraging. This is a potential solution for managing increasing costs to the healthcare system with a population aging and experiencing increasingly complex health needs and acute events resulting from medication non-adherence. The Bluetooth function embedded in spencer could be used to capture daily vital sign data and health outcomes, facilitating real-time care and remote monitoring by a connected healthcare team.

The study suggests that the use of medication dispensing technology and subsequent improvement in medication adherence have the potential to prevent or alleviate worsening health outcomes for older adults with chronic conditions and adherence issues. The use of medication dispensing technology, thus, may have significant implications for the healthcare system, given non-adherent older adults attribute to 11% of hospital admissions. In the USA, suboptimal adherence has been associated with 125,000 deaths, 10% of hospitalizations, and costs of up to US$289 billion annually.

Future, large-scale research is necessary to demonstrate medication dispensing technology's potential in enhancing older patients' health outcomes and reducing healthcare system utilization and costs.

Catalyst Healthcare wishes to thank the study authors, Alberta Health Services, University of Alberta, the East Calgary Family Care Clinic, Sandstone Pharmacies Ltd. for their support and the Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation (CABHI) for funding through its Industry Innovation Partnership Program.

Watch how spencer works:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1JcpBjCEng&t=12s

About Catalyst Healthcare Ltd.
Catalyst is an award-winning technology company with offices in Canada and the United States whose patented AdhereNet® platform links pharmacists, patients and care teams to manage drug complexity and improve medication adherence. Catalyst's connected technologies gather, share and correlate data in real-time, allowing pharmacists to better serve their patients and to play a key role in population health.

References:
Col N, Fanale JE, Kronholm P. The role of medication noncompliance and adverse drug reactions in hospitalizations of the elderly. Arch Intern Med. 1990;150(4):841–5.
Osterberg L, Blaschke T. Adherence to medication. N Engl J Med. 2005 Aug 4;353(5):487-97. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra050100. PMID: 16079372.

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