Patients Report Use of MTS Blister Card Improves Confidence in Safely Taking Medications and Reducing Emergency Room Visits

ORLANDO, Fla., March 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- MTS, an Omnicell^® Company and leading international provider of adherence packaging systems, today applauds the patient medication adherence research to be presented by Sharrel Pinto, BSPharm, DMM, MS, PhD, of the University of Toledo College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) 2014 Conference in Orlando. The research is the first to evaluate patient confidence in self administration of their medications between MTS RxMap^®, an adherence blister card filled and sealed by the pharmacy, and self-organized pill vials, pillboxes, and medication pouches. The results showed that patients' confidence in taking their medications increased from 7% to 93% when using RxMap blister cards. Additionally, 36% of patients credited the blister card for playing a role in improving clinical results and helping reduce ER visits and hospitalizations.

Medication non-adherence is a $290 billion problem in the U.S.¹ and leads to poor patient outcomes, resulting in more hospitalizations and an increased level of care. Dr. Pinto followed patients for six months, tracking the challenges of taking at least six medications per day and how they coped with organization and accuracy of self-adherence. Traditionally patients are dispensed a one-month supply of medication in bulk that requires self-sorting - some patients equated this to sorting up to 50 pills per day.

"This research indicates that patients taking multiple medications on a daily basis need support from community pharmacists to organize their daily medication intake," said Dr. Pinto. "Since patients and caregivers usually underreport, their comments regarding reduced hospital utilization and overall quality of life improvements speak to the personal and real benefits of medication adherence. If we can continue to build confidence among patients that they can easily handle their medication intake through appropriate packaging alone, we are confident that we are on the right path to reducing the burdens on our overwhelmed healthcare delivery system."

With an increase in chronic conditions, an increasing number of patients are trying to manage complex medication regimens. When specifically considering the population 65 years of age and older, the National Center for Biotechnical Information (NCBI) reported in 2012 that 44% of men and 57% of women are taking five or more medications per week.² As a result, patients have adopted various organizing systems to help themselves adhere to their medication regimen. Patients that participated in this study reported loss of independence, stress of use and concern of taking the wrong dose at the wrong time as a few of the challenges associated with pill vials, pillboxes and medication pouches.

"The results of this research demonstrate that patients are looking for more effective ways to manage medications in the home," said Kimberly Howland PhD, VP, product strategy & market development at Omnicell. "Omnicell is pleased that its MTS multi-medication product is playing a role in improving patients' quality of life and we look forward to continuing research that will connect outcomes-based data to our adherence packaging solutions. Medication adherence begins and ends with the confidence of the patient and we see this as an exciting first step towards addressing this problem."

Visit MTS at APhA in Booth # 803, March 28-31, 2014. Details of Dr. Pinto's research will be available at poster sessions 8, 18, and 23 during APhA.

About Omnicell

For more than 20 years the mission of Omnicell (NASDAQ: OMCL) has been creating new efficiencies to improve patient care, anywhere it is delivered. Omnicell is a leading supplier of comprehensive automation and business analytics software solutions for patient-centric medication and supply management across the entire healthcare continuum, from the acute care hospital setting to post-acute skilled nursing and long-term care facilities to the home.

Since 1992, more than 2,700 Acute Care customers worldwide have utilized Omnicell's medication automation, supply chain and analytics solutions to increase operational efficiency, reduce errors, deliver actionable intelligence and improve patient safety. Omnicell Non-Acute Care solutions, including its MTS Medication Technologies subsidiary, a leader in long-term care for over 25-years, provide innovative medication adherence packaging solutions that can reduce costly hospital readmissions and enable approximately 6,000 institutional and retail pharmacies worldwide to maintain high accuracy and quality standards in medication dispensing and administration while optimizing productivity and controlling costs.

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¹http://www.nehi.net/bendthecurve/sup/documents/Medication_Adherence_Brief.pdf

²http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3339249/

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SOURCE Omnicell, Inc.