HealthEngine, Australia’s largest online healthcare marketplace, today announced the launch of a new service, Medication Manager.
Through the HealthEngine app, Medication Manager allows patients to monitor their daily medication, get reminders when to take their prescribed doses, and be prompted to re-book doctors appointments before their script runs out. The opt-in service also allows patients to monitor their medicine and record feedback from medication that can be shared with their GP.
“At HealthEngine, one of our core focuses is to enable patients to take more control and responsibility of their health. Medication Manager is our latest step in this journey,” said Dr Marcus Tan, CEO and Medical Director of HealthEngine. “When juggling multiple medications, it can be difficult to keep up with where you’re at. Medication Manager helps patients stay on top of their medication, which in turn ensures their quality of care is improved.”
“In creating this product, we wanted to provide support for patients after they leave an appointment with their GP, while also ensuring their GP’s advice was more accurately followed,” said Dr Tan. “This is the first service which truly combines medication management and interaction with your GP, and we’re excited about its potential to improve the healthcare journey for patients.”
How Medication Manager will work
Medication Manager is a free tool that patients can enable on their HealthEngine app to manage their medication from wherever they are. Patients simply input their medication schedule, and can track dosage with taken, skipped or snooze buttons. Practices will also be able to synchronise with the app, so that prescriptions will be automatically added, exactly as the doctor prescribed.
If patients opt to skip their medications multiple times, Medication Manager will check in with the patient and offer the opportunity to book a GP appointment through the HealthEngine app.
Medication Manager also tracks script availability and reminds the patient that the script is due to run out, prompting them to book an appointment with their prescribing doctor if a new prescription is required.
“Continuity of care is critical for patients,” said Dr Tan. “Medication Manager makes it easier for patients to check in with their prescribing doctor throughout their care cycle.”
Medication Manager also helps keep patients safe by analysing the medications they input into the platform. As patients add a new medication to their app, Medication Manager uses information from one of Australia’s largest medication databases to check the level of risk in mixing it with an existing medication they may have previously forgotten to mention. If there’s an issue, Medication Manager will flag it, and suggest the patient contact their prescribing GP.
Advantages for Australian patients
“We know that Australians want tools that simplify the management of their daily health needs. Medication Manager felt like the right evolution for HealthEngine, as one of our goals is to continuously improve patient care in simple ways. With this new feature, patients can now manage their medication anywhere, anytime from their phone,” said Darius Wey, Head of Mobile, HealthEngine.
As part of Medication Manager, HealthEngine is partnering with ScriptWise, a not for profit organisation that aims to prevent prescription medication misuse and overdose fatalities in Australia.
“We’re proud to partner with organisations like HealthEngine to educate patients on their medications,” said Bee Mohamed, CEO of ScriptWise. “Technology has a key role to play in helping patients manage their health, as well as know what a normal and abnormal reaction to a medication looks like. Medication Manager has a role to improve medication literacy and prescription adherence which will, in turn, improve a patient’s health outcome.”
Advantages for Australian doctors
Medication Manager helps create a strong, ongoing relationship between clinicians and their patient, ensuring greater consistency in care. The transparency facilitated by patients being able to note their reactions to medications at the time of effect will give clinicians more information when caring for the patient. The app’s alerts will also help drive greater adherence to correct practices around medicines, which in turn will lead to better health outcomes.
Data privacy and security measures
Medication Manager is designed to give patients more control of their health. It will only be accessible via the HealthEngine app, and can be turned on and off within it. It can be set up to feature the same level of security and encryption as a mobile banking app, including only being accessible through Touch ID or passcode verification.
