Irody introduces image-guided medication management technology to improve safety, outcomes of managing multiple medications
Boston, Mass. (PRWEB) June 14, 2016 -- Today, nearly 8 in 10 prescriptions filled in the United States are for generic drugs, and this increase is expected to continue in coming years. This broad use of generic drugs is contributing to the heightened need for effective medication management solutions. In particular, patients experience difficulties when the look of generic medications changes. Answering this need for effective solutions and medication safety, Irody, a digital health technology company, announced today that its image-guided medication management technology is available to people who use the company’s EpiDiary™ application.
EpiDiary is a set of mobile and web-based apps connected to a cloud server that helps patients with epilepsy and other neurological conditions accurately, easily and effectively manage their medications and record symptoms, which improves compliance with their prescribed care plan, as well as health outcomes.
“The price of prescription drugs has put greater emphasis on the use of generic medications, which look different when coming from different manufacturers. The variation in shape, size, imprint and color can be confusing to patients. Irody’s image-guided medication management technology addresses this confusion by allowing patients to take a high-resolution, close-up picture of their current medication and when taking pills, compare them to the stored pictures to ensure they are taking the right medication at the right time,” said Eyal Bartfeld, DMD, PhD, founder and CEO of Irody.
EpiDiary documents disease-related events, as well as adverse effects of medications prescribed to treat epilepsy and other neurological conditions. EpiDiary is available free of charge to consumers on the App Store, Google Play or at https://epidiary.com.
“Patients have real challenges in managing their medication today, more than ever,” said Joyce Cramer, associate research scientist at Yale University School of Medicine and past president of the Epilepsy Therapy Project, a non-profit organization advancing new therapies for people living with epilepsy. “Patients can no longer rely on the looks of the pills that are prescribed to them as a guide for properly taking their medications. Having immediate, anytime access to actual photos of their medications via EpiDiary gives them greater power to manage their personal health. The bonus for health care professionals is the ability to connect this information to the patient’s medical record to ensure safe and appropriate use.”
According to Dr. Bartfeld the image-guided medication management capabilities are available to Android users and will be available to iPhone users in July. After installing the app, patients can enter their prescription information. The image-guided medication management technology then guides them to take high-resolution, close-up photos of their medication, which are used for reference when taking medication during the course of treatment. The ability to use the photographs to confirm they are taking the right prescription and to refresh the images should their prescription change has many positive health implications, including:
• Encouraging the safe use of medications by adding photos of the actual medications for the patient’s reference;
• Supporting care plan adherence through timely notification and reminders; and
• Contributing to historically accurate medication records by creating a history of past and current medications, related images, dosage, and adverse events, if applicable.
“EpiDiary makes it easy for patients to use the camera on their phone to take high-resolution images of their medications, utilizing our new image processing algorithms to link pills in the virtual and physical worlds,” said Dr. Bartfeld.
EpiDiary is available in English, Spanish, French and Italian and so far has been specifically adopted to serve patients in the United States, Canada, Australia, Spain and Italy. Each month EpiDiary processes more than 40,000 data entries by patients, totaling more than 2.5 million de-identified patient reported data points, and has more than 920,000 patient-days so far. This strong use of the application demonstrates the patients’ need for new mobile apps to help manage their health.
About Irody
Based in Boston, Mass., Irody was founded by a group of scientists, technology leaders and entrepreneurs with expertise in computer vision and signal processing, medicine, epidemiology and medical informatics. The company’s proprietary pill recognition technology is the basis for solutions like mobile patient diaries such as EpiDiary. Irody’s cloud and mobile apps are currently in use in several clinical trials and by more than 30 academic institutions in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia. Data from EpiDiary has been used for multiple peer-reviewed publications.
To learn more, visit http://www.irody.com.
Barbara Tabor, tabor PR, +1 651-230-9192, [email protected]
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