VitalTech, a company focused on enhancing the quality of life for seniors through connected care services and smart wearable devices, included a medication module to its VitalCare remote patient monitoring platform. Clinicians and patients can now set medication reminders by time of day, which are then sent to the patient's tablet or smartphone. These reminders can also be sent in the form of messages to VitalTech's VitalBand smartwatch.
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The patient or the clinician can also add medications, a critical component that provides the primary physician with the ability to view all medications prescribed by any specialists. This feature helps avoid adverse reactions due to conflicting prescriptions, said VitalTech in a press release.
Patients simply need to mark their medications daily as taken, skipped or missed. This information is logged in their record in the VitalCare portal.
Medication adherence is vital for maintaining good health. Failure to adherence is a serious problem which not only affects the patient but also the health care system. But all too often patients do not take their medications on time.
“It's well known that medication adherence is a huge factor in improving outcomes for our senior population,” said James Hamilton, CEO of VitalTech. “VitalCare is the remote patient monitoring system built from the ground up specifically for seniors, providing the ease of use they seek whether they're aging in place at home, or at an assisted living or skilled nursing facility.”
In addition to medication, VitalCare has modules for monitoring vital signs, Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) and nutrition intake. Collection of vitals is done through Bluetooth-enabled medical devices. In many deployments, VitalTech provides these devices in a fulfillment service along with a tablet. These devices are pre-paired with the tablet and customized to the patient's individual health profile, and may include a blood pressure cuff, pulse oximeter or other devices.
VitalCare enables better communication between patients and their clinicians via telemedicine video calls for remote health visits and virtual check-ins, reducing unnecessary visits to the emergency room or physician's office.
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Nutritional data is collected by the daily recording of foods consumed. This is done via the user's voice or by barcode scanning. The resulting trend data for measures such as calories, fat and sodium is available for the patient and their care team to view, helping the patient stay on track with their health goals.
"VitalCare is the most complete senior-focused remote patient monitoring system on the market," said Mr. Hamilton. "It's a key part of keeping seniors 'protected, healthy, connected.®'"
