Game-playing patients more likely to refill meds: Study

Print 21 April 2016
Emily Wasserman / FiercePharma

HealthPrize Technologies has talked up gamification as a way to get patients to stick to their meds. Now, the company is trotting out new data supporting its approach. HealthPrize found that individuals participating in its digital adherence program were more likely to stick to their cholesterol-lowering meds.

The Norwalk, CT-based company looked at a group of 1,085 patients to see how a mix of education, gamification and incentives would affect refills. HealthPrize saw that its gamification method almost entirely eliminated late refills, with patients waiting less than one day to refill their meds.

For comparison’s sake, patients waited more than 8 “gap days” to refill their meds before they enrolled in HealthPrize’s adherence program, the company said in a statement.

“What’s most impressive is the speed with which patients decreased their number of gap days upon joining HealthPrize,” HealthPrize CEO Tom Kottler said in a statement. “This cohort represents an already reasonably persistent group, but even in this group our platform significantly improved refill behavior, as the program is focused on motivating patients towards more timely refills--arguably the most important adherence behavior.”

This is not the first time HealthPrize has trumpeted data in favor of its gamification drug adherence program. The company last year released results from a study showing that more than half of patients who participated continued to fill their prescriptions and stay with the programs over time.

HealthPrize is also working to expand its gaming platform. The company considered allowing users to create personal profiles to track their progress against other users and connect with individuals with similar conditions. HealthPrize also considered adding content-sharing features so patients could share updates with family and friends, Katrina Firlik, HealthPrize's chief medical officer, toldFiercePharmaMarketing last January.

"Patient engagement is really the Holy Grail in personal health, and we're making headway in making the patient experience more enjoyable. This is key in getting patients involved in an online and mobile program," Firlik said.

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