When the clinic closes, can in-home pharmacy help? Silver Bay, Minnesota is about to find out
On the crisp, sparkling shores of Lake Superior on Minnesota’s North Shore, Silver Bay is more than a city, it’s a lifestyle. About 1,800 people call it home, drawn by the views and the peace of small-town life.
But, like many rural communities across the country, Silver Bay has been losing vital healthcare access with residents facing increasing barriers to getting care.
The city’s only healthcare clinic is closing in December 2026 and nearly a third of residents are 65 or older. That’s exactly the population that feels a healthcare gap the most. The town’s only pharmacy is not open on weekends and residents will now need to transport at least 30 miles away for clinical and emergency services.
That has left many people wondering how they’ll be able to stay independent at home in Silver Bay.
Now Silver Bay is stepping up as the second Minnesota community to join the Rural Health Innovation Initiative, a six-month pilot led by the University of Minnesota Center for Healthy Aging and Innovation. The goal is to test the impact of pharmacy and care services delivered directly into people’s homes, no matter how far they live from the nearest pharmacy.
One countertop device opening a world of services
The centerpiece of the pilot is the Ōmcare Home Health Hub®, a compact in-home device that automatically sorts and dispenses medication in pre-timed packets whenever a person’s medication schedule calls for it. There’s no more guessing whether today’s pills were taken.
Beyond medication management, the Hub gives participants:
- A screen for video calls with family, friends and caregivers
- 24/7 phone access to pharmacy staff
- Monthly check-ins with a medication management team
It’s built to answer a simple but urgent question: can older adults get consistent, reliable care without living close to a pharmacy?
Local leadership sees an opportunity
Silver Bay Mayor Wade LeBlanc has been vocal about what this pilot could mean for the city’s future. As a small community working to support its aging population with a thinning healthcare infrastructure, he sees real potential in bringing this kind of innovation home. And he’s hoping it sticks around.
The city is already looking past the six-month pilot window, aiming to partner with Essentia Health to keep the service model in place for residents long-term.
The view from Ōmcare
This isn’t about any one device; it’s not technology for technology’s sake. This pilot is about communities people are committed to staying in, even with the erosion of the infrastructure that once supported them.
Silver Bay reflects exactly the kind of community the pilot was built for. It’s a town people love deeply, where they want to spend their entire lives, but where the healthcare system hasn’t kept pace.
For us, the pilot is a chance to test whether an in-home model can genuinely close that gap, not just patch it, to help residents stay healthy, independent and connected to the community they’ve chosen.
It’s easy to think of a medication management as a logistics problem to solve. But the connection achieved through check-ins with family, loved ones and caregivers is just as important. Isolation is as much a rural health risk as a missed medication dose, and worth designing for.
Why this matters beyond Silver Bay
Silver Bay isn’t an outlier. Rural clinics and pharmacies have been closing across Minnesota and the country for years. The communities left behind are disproportionately older. The Rural Health Innovation Initiative is explicitly designed to test whether the Ōmcare model can scale; not just as a stopgap for one North Shore city, but as a blueprint for rural communities nationwide facing the same erosion of local care.
The University of Minnesota Center for Healthy Aging and Innovation is leading the evaluation and tracking outcomes over the six-month pilot to understand how well the model supports aging in place. It’s all part of discovering what it will take to bring it to more towns like Silver Bay.
Is your community next?
If your rural community is watching its local healthcare options shrink, this pilot might be worth a conversation. Communities interested in bringing this kind of in-home medication management and care model to their own residents can reach out to the University of Minnesota study office to learn about participating in a future pilot.
Ready to explore what this could look like where you live? Contact Email: healthstudy@umn.edu
Experiencing one life
by Lisa Lavin, CEO, Ōmcare
Care for older adults was built around systems, not really around the realities of how individuals and their caregivers actually live. Not only can those realities change for people, as the older adult population grows, caregiver capacity shrinks, healthcare costs rise and people live longer with multiple chronic conditions … doing more of the same thing isn’t enough.
Older adults don’t experience healthcare as a collection of systems
Every time an older adult interacts with:
- Primary care providers
- Specialists
- One or more pharmacies
- Home health providers
- Hospitals
- Insurance companies
- Transportation services
- Family caregivers
They encounter different processes and priorities.
Seen from 10,000 feet, these are collections of systems, but adults ages 65+ are experiencing one life.
If those systems aren’t connected or aren’t willing to try new approaches, the burden of coordinating everything falls on the individual or their family caregiver. That’s especially problematic when someone is managing multiple medications, appointments, diagnoses, mobility challenges and/or cognitive changes.
Instead of expecting older adults and caregivers to continually navigate these systems, we have the opportunity to bring support closer to the person’s actual day-to-day life.
Keeping people at home needs to be more than just a slogan
Most care organizations want the same outcome: help people remain independent and healthy in their homes for as long as possible.
But achieving that requires asking a different question: What does this person need between healthcare visits to actually make that possible?
- A 15-minute visit with a physician
- The every day routine of a family caregiver managing medications
- 8:00pm on a Sunday when someone is struggling to remember if they took their medications on time
- A brief home care visit where a care worker sees warning signs
In that space between those experiences there is enormous opportunity.
Technology, remote monitoring, medication management, community services, home-based care and new models of caregiver support can help fill those gaps.
Crisis prevention is better than crisis management
When something goes wrong, our healthcare systems are very good at responding. But for adults over age 65, relatively small problems can quickly become big.
One missed pill, dehydration, an untreated infection, a fall or a caregiver becoming overwhelmed can quickly result in an ER visit or hospitalization.
Technology and willingness to innovate gives organizations more opportunities to identify problems earlier and to intervene before they become crises.
That’s not just better healthcare, it’s better quality of life. And often less expensive than repeatedly treating preventable complications.
It’s time to embrace familial caregivers as an official and vital part of the care team
Family caregivers are often doing an enormous amount of invisible healthcare work.
- Organizing medications
- Driving to appointments
- Communicating with providers
- Watching for changes
- Managing meals
- Coordinating services
- Calibrating whether something is “normal” or if they should call in higher level assistance.
If organizations design care without considering the caregiver, they’re leaving out a huge and vital piece of the care puzzle.
Meeting older adults where they are also means meeting caregivers where they are. This can mean:
- Providing better and more clear information
- Reducing coordination burdens
- Providing tools that give them confidence that something has been completed and correctly
- Allowing technology to extend the reach of already-overstretched professionals
Innovation doesn’t have to mean throwing everything out and starting over
Being open to innovation doesn’t mean abandoning proven practices or adopting every shiny new technology. It means being willing to ask:
“Is there a better way to accomplish the outcome we’re already trying to achieve?”
Sometimes the answer will be no. Sometimes an existing process is genuinely the best one.
But organizations can become so accustomed to how something has always been done that the process accidentally becomes confused with the goal.
There doesn’t need to be a solo solution
Organizations: You don’t have to solve every problem internally.
Service organizations, health systems, home care agencies, pharmacies, technology companies, community organizations and caregivers are all unique pieces of the puzzle.
The strategy that benefits everyone is willingness to collaborate and let others bring new capabilities into the ecosystem.
The question doesn’t have to be: “Is this our solution?”
It can be: “Does this help our older adults and their caregivers achieve the outcome we’re all working toward?”
In fact, that’s a much more productive way to think about innovation.
The bigger idea
Ultimately, innovation in older adult care isn’t just about technology, it’s about willingness to change the way we all deliver support when the old way isn’t working well enough.
Older adults deserve care that fits into their lives rather than contorting their lives to fit into the healthcare system. Caregivers deserve support that recognizes the enormous role they’re already playing. And healthcare and older adult-service organizations need enough flexibility to experiment, collaborate and adopt new approaches when those approaches can improve outcomes.
The organizations that are willing to do that aren’t abandoning the system. They’re protecting its purpose.
The goal we’re all working toward? Helping older adults live healthier, safer and more independent lives at home. With this in mind, being open to new ideas should not be seen as a disruption of the mission, it’s all in how the mission is fulfilled.
If your organization is ready to reduce hospital readmissions and improve medication adherence rates, let’s explore a partnership.
The missed opportunity in home care: How medication management unlocks new revenue without more staff
Shanna Eckberg isn’t new to aging services. She’s worked in senior care since she was 16, starting as a dietary aide, moving through accounting and operations, earning her nursing home administrator license and eventually serving as CEO.
In 2025, she launched Syncara, LLC, her own home care company to focus on one goal: helping older adults age the way they choose, using technology to fill growing gaps in care.
When she first saw the Ōmcare Home Health Hub®, the value was immediate.
“I remember thinking, where were you two years ago?” she laughs. “This tool can help us watch clients take their medications so my team can focus on other care.”
The Ōmcare Home Health Hub® dispenses pharmacy-prepacked, reconciled medications at the right dose and time, without requiring a nurse to load pillboxes. Agencies can monitor adherence virtually, support clients discharged with any number of medications and provide peace of mind to families.
“Why not offer an option that doesn’t require much caregiver time in the home, but can still provide a quality service, build trust and generate additional revenue?” Shanna asks.
However, for many home care executives, new technology raises a fair question: Is this going to take away our business?
Shanna understands that concern. And she challenges it.
“It gives our agencies another opportunity to meet needs creatively by offering services in the home without requiring a lot of staff time.”
For home care agencies facing staffing shortages and rising demand, medication management isn’t a replacement for care, it’s a new front door into a home, creating earlier relationships and sustainable growth without adding overhead.
Key takeaways for leadership
- Medication management is now a core business risk and opportunity
- Public-private collaboration is the future of rural aging support. The healthcare system needs home care providers as core partners. Agencies willing to pilot innovation and collaboration can move ahead of competitors. This is not just a shift in care models, it’s a new ecosystem forming around aging-in-place.
- Home care must step into healthcare’s gap. Rural markets need new partnerships and technologies to fill widening healthcare gaps. Home care is positioned to lead.
“I feel we are on the edge of something great. Having an open mind is crucial to our successes as providers.”— Shanna Eckberg, CEO, Syncara
How to take medication management from cost center to profit center
Most home care agencies treat medication management as a task. The ones that operationalize it as a service line will see measurable gains in margin, differentiation and enterprise value.
Despite dealing with tighter margins, staffing shortages and the shift to value-based care, there’s a practical way for home care agencies to improve outcomes and the bottom line that often gets overlooked: medication management.
Summary for business leaders
- Medication non-adherence is quietly eroding your margins
- Most clients manage between five and 10 (or more) medications. Missed doses and medication errors drive avoidable hospitalizations, liability risk and caregiver inefficiency.
- Your current approach is not scalable
- Pill boxes, reminders and caregiver oversight depend on consistency. And you can’t guarantee that at scale. Your highest cost clients are also the hardest to manage. And the most expensive when things go wrong.
- The opportunity is targeted, not universal
- Only about five to 10 percent of clients require advanced medication management. Focusing on this high-risk segment delivers disproportionate financial and clinical impact.
- Med management tech is not just cost-control, it’s a revenue engine
- Medication management technology can add between $300-$1,500/client/month in new, recurring revenue. Additionally, organizations realize reduced caregiver burden, better labor utilization and fewer costly medication errors which can cost $3,000 to $4,000 per incident.
- Med management tech is a strategic lever for growth and differentiation
- Medication management technology allows you to engage clients earlier and increase lifetime value, strengthen family trust and retention and create a platform to layer on higher-margin services over time.
For organizations moving toward value-based care, the opportunity is clear: focus on high-risk clients and support them with technology like the Ōmcare Home Health Hub. This isn’t about a system-wide rollout, it’s about being precise and intentional where impact is highest.
Leading home care organizations are no longer treating medication management as a task, they’re incorporating it as core infrastructure for growth and margin improvement.
Ōmcare helps you deploy faster, operate more consistently and capture both clinical and financial upside sooner.
Medication management isn’t just a clinical need, it’s a business opportunity hiding in plain sight. Explore Ōmcare’s Medication Assistance Service.
The last mile in value-based care: closing critical gaps between healthcare facilities and home
“We believe there is a not-so-distant future when medication non-adherence becomes a far more manageable issue.” – T.J. Griffin, Chief Clinical Officer, PharMerica
As seniors and rural patients face increasing mobility challenges, pharmacy and hospital closures and complex medical regimens, all of that (and more) is becoming the reality for those in value-based care.
- Avoidable utilization
- Rising mortality risk
- Fragmented care delivery
- Weakened performance in value-based models
It’s a no-win reality: seniors facing declining access and outcomes, rural communities left with fewer care options and healthcare organizations asked to deliver better results with fewer touch points and shrinking infrastructure.
Patient isolation and the “last mile” of medication management are where these challenges become system-level risks.
But they also represent a system-level opportunity.
A model built for scale
A new public-private Rural Health Innovation Initiative is focused on delivering pharmacy services, virtual care and medication management directly into homes.
The initiative is driven by Ōmcare, PharMerica , Mayor Alicia Pearson of Lanesboro, Minnesota and the University of Minnesota Center for Healthy Aging and Innovation, all committed to extending care beyond traditional facilities while maintaining quality, continuity and accountability for seniors and rural populations.
Why it matters to you
Key takeaways for value-based care leaders
- Acting now can stabilize rural access. With rural hospitals under financial strain and service lines disappearing, healthcare organizations must proactively extend care into the home to prevent gaps in access and continuity.
- Home-based pharmacy and virtual care are essential. Mobility barriers and medication complexity are driving avoidable utilization. Pharmacy-to-home and virtual care models directly improve adherence and outcomes.
- It’s possible to scale without new facilities. Technology-enabled medication management and remote care allow organizations to expand reach in low-density regions without significant capital investment.
- Connected-care data can be used to drive transformation. In-home care models generate continuous clinical and behavioral data that support early intervention, population health analytics and system-wide improvement.
“What can we do to bring healthcare back to rural America? We know we must approach it differently, and we recognize that change is never easy. For generations, these communities have endured, but endurance alone is not enough. Together, through public-private collaboration, we have the opportunity to make a real difference and improve lives across rural America.” – Lisa Lavin, CEO, Ōmcare
Explore how the Rural Health Innovation Initiative can strengthen your organization’s rural footprint, improve adherence and close the last-mile gap dragging down value-based outcomes.
The pill puzzle: Why current medication adherence isn’t enough
Around 125,000 deaths each year in the US are due to prescription medication non-adherence. The term – adherence – refers to following physicians’ prescription drug instructions to patients in treating their disorders. While a reported 50% of all patients struggle with medication adherence, this problem is even worse in seniors. One reason is a lack of understanding for the need to take a particular drug, but another is forgetfulness. However, that forgetfulness is most often related to taking multiple daily medications and mixing them up. Regardless of the specific reason for stopping a medication, confusion over when to take it, or never taking it at all, a chronic health disorder is likely to worsen as a result.
Prescription medications used to treat cancers: Why adherence is necessary
Oral chemotherapy pills that can be taken at home are replacing intravenous (IV) chemotherapy delivered in treatment centers for many patients. Four types of cancer that can now be treated by taking daily oral chemotherapy medications are:
- Leukemia
- Breast cancer
- Prostate cancer
- Renal cancer
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), half of all cancers occur in people aged 66 and older. Likewise, the NCI notes that senior age is the most important (overall) risk for cancer, with the median age linked to the following cancers:
- Breast cancer – median age at diagnosis: 62 years old
- Colorectal cancer – median age at diagnosis: 67 years old
- Prostate cancer – median age at diagnosis: 66 years old
When chemotherapy pills are suddenly discontinued or taken incorrectly, the cancer tumors can return or grow. An article in the Journal of Oncology Practice reported that three other consequences of chemotherapy pill nonadherence are increased use of healthcare resources, higher hospitalization rates, and longer inpatient stays. Especially for seniors with cancer, longer hospitalizations are linked to developing hospital-acquired infections.
Diabetes medication adherence in seniors and nonadherence consequences
At least 16.5 million adults aged 65 and older in the US are living with Type-2 diabetes, and many take oral prescription medication to control it. When the daily pill to control blood glucose level is skipped or taken at the wrong time of day, there is a far higher likelihood that diabetes complications will develop. These complications include neuropathy (nerve pain), heart disease, and kidney failure.
What is polypharmacy and why does this lead to medication nonadherence?
Polypharmacy is the term used to describe taking more than five different prescription drugs each day. Problematically, polypharmacy was reported in up to 39% of all adults aged 65 and older (per an article in Global Health Research and Policy). Meanwhile, short-term memory problems increase with aging. Therefore, the pill puzzle can become highly complex for seniors as they age. Since adults are living to much later ages than ever before, the generally low level of prescription medication adherence among adults needs to be increased. Otherwise, a lower overall quality of health after age 70 may be the consequence.
Digital devices, like the Ōmcare Home Health Hub® make guessing a thing of the past with medication reminders and one-touch access to video conferencing, guaranteeing right med, right time, right person every time.
The adherence advantage: Unlocking the benefits of enhanced medication adherence
Taking medications as prescribed is something that is not as easy as it sounds. This is especially the case for seniors, who may take several prescribed drugs each day. It really is vital to recognize that non-adherence can mean not taking a prescribed drug at all, or it can mean taking it but mixing up the dose or time of day to take it. The following describes what can happen if you do not take specific prescription drugs as prescribed, as well as the benefits of medication adherence to treating three common health disorders in seniors.
Lack of medication adherence in seniors with high blood pressure: Why it matters
Around 60% of all adults in the US by age 60 have high blood pressure (hypertension). This percent increases with age. Meanwhile, high blood pressure is the leading cause of strokes. Certain medications are prescribed to ensure that blood pressure remains within a normal range in adults living with chronic hypertension. In this way, a stable blood pressure is maintained, so as not to be too high or too low.
When a person skips a daily blood pressure medication, the result can be a dangerous spike in blood pressure. However – if a morning dose is taken instead at bedtime – the person could arise to use the bathroom, but then faint due to an overly-low blood pressure. This is because it can take several hours for an oral blood pressure drug to work as intended.
Medical researchers have determined that adults who are non-adherent to prescribed drugs to control hypertension are nearly six times more likely to have a stroke than those who are adherent. Since strokes often cause permanent disability in older-aged adults, adhering to blood pressure drugs can be imperative to future overall health and well-being.
The benefits of medication adherence for managing diabetes-type 2
At least 29% of all adults aged 65 and older are living with Diabetes-Type 2, per the Centers for Disease Control. While insulin is the standard treatment for Diabetes-Type 1, prescribed pills of antihyperglycemic drugs are the standard treatment for Diabetes-Type 2. These daily antihyperglycemic medications help to maintain the blood sugar level within normal range. If not taken each day (or not taken at all), the blood sugar level can remain too high or even increase.
Uncontrolled or poorly-controlled Diabetes-Type 2 can boost the likelihood of developing many of the common diabetes complications. These complications include:
- A type of nerve pain in the limbs called peripheral neuropathy
- Heart disease, resulting in an increased risk of heart attacks
- Blindness due to diabetic retinopathy
- Transient Ischemic Attacks (TIAs)
- Kidney damage
Benefits of medication adherence for controlling cholesterol level
High cholesterol increases the risk for a heart attack. According to the American Heart Association, the main reason is that too much cholesterol in the bloodstream causes fatty deposits (plaques) to form in the artery walls. In turn, the plaques can break off, travel in the bloodstream toward the heart as a clot, and then block blood-flow to the heart.
The FDA approved the first statin drug to lower cholesterol in 1987. Since that time, statins have been prescribed by doctors to many millions of adults to lower cholesterol. This is because taking a daily statin drug has been shown to tremendously lower heart attack risk in adults with chronically-high cholesterol. However, statin medication needs to be taken daily for life after beginning its use. Otherwise, cholesterol level is likely to spike back up.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in adults in the US, and especially in senior-aged adults. Therefore, medication adherence to a prescribed statin drug by an adult diagnosed with high cholesterol can be life-saving.
How smart technology can increase medication adherence in seniors
Having a family member or friend remind a senior-aged person to take daily prescribed medications every day can be effective at increasing medication adherence to prescribed drugs. However, this is not a realistic solution in most cases, as even a family member or friend can forget to tell the senior-aged person every day to take the prescribed medication. Fortunately, there now are apps and other mobile devices that enable users to set reminders.
Meanwhile, voice-activated technology gadgets can also provide a medication reminder. While not specifically designed for seniors, these can be used by senior-aged adults. More recently, home-based smart devices have been developed that provide medication reminders. Notably, this can enable the user to be reminded each day to take a specific prescription medication at a specific time of day. Since these reminders can enable senior-aged adults to take daily medications at the right dose and at the right time of day, they can significantly increase medication adherence in seniors.
The Ōmcare Home Health Hub® is an all-in-one platform that is designed specifically for seniors and provides medication alerts while actually storing and dispensing the medication in pre-packaged pouches from the pharmacy, making right med, right time, right person a concern of the past.
Telehealth tips for caregivers: Supporting aging loved ones
Senior-aged adults often rely on adult children and other family members for home-based assistance. This can range from housecleaning to helping with bathing and dressing. There are at least 44 million “friends and family” unpaid caregivers in the US, and these caregivers are critical to the survival of homebound seniors. If you are a family member or friend performing a caregiving role to an elderly person, taking time away from that role to lower your caregiving stress can be a major challenge. Telehealth utilization can reduce that stress, as the need to drive your elderly loved one to frequent healthcare or allied therapy appointments can be eliminated. Moreover, it can also enable the senior-aged person to meet with a doctor or allied therapist (such as a physical therapist) to acquire health-related information without the need for an “in-person” appointment.
Below are three tips for caregivers to promote telehealth utilization by senior-aged loved ones:
Tip #1: Make sure the room is as quiet as possible during a telehealth session
One in every three people aged 65-74 has hearing loss. For those aged 75 and older, most have noticeable hearing loss. For seniors with age-related hearing loss, high and low-pitched voices can be the most difficult to hear clearly. Since the majority of hearing aids “work” by amplifying all nearby sounds, a loud television in the room during a telehealth session may prevent a hearing-impaired senior from understanding a doctor’s answers to questions. Therefore, it is vital to ensure that the room where the senior-aged person is located is as quiet as possible during the telehealth session. In this way, it is more likely that your senior-aged loved one will be able to get medical questions answered and feel comfortable using telehealth to interact with healthcare providers.
Tip #2: Have adequate lighting in the room where the telehealth visit will occur
Healthcare providers typically need to be able to see a patient in order to assess that person’s overall state of health. This is especially the case for senior-aged patients living with a chronic disorder, as worsening health can often be visible by viewing the face. For example, an unusual yellowish skin tone or jaundice in a person is common in those experiencing liver damage. If that jaundice has worsened – which happens in worsening liver damage – a person’s doctor may notice this during a telehealth visit, and determine an emergency “in-person” appointment is needed.
Furthermore, good lighting during a telehealth session can prevent a senior-aged person from developing eyestrain, which can result in your loved one stopping a telehealth session prematurely before getting the needed medical information.
Tip #3: Check the technology to ensure it works before the telehealth visit begins
It can be frustrating to discover that a computer’s webcam does not work during a telehealth visit with a healthcare provider. Likewise, internet connections can sometimes become unstable due to inclement weather events such as thunderstorms. According to AARP, two in five adults over age 65 feel that technological devices were not designed with them in mind.
Problematically, when a senior-aged person is unable to keep a telehealth visit because of a technology problem, that person is far more likely to not want to use telehealth again. Then, this unfortunate decision can result in your return to driving or escorting your senior-aged loved one to numerous healthcare providers’ offices. In turn, the negative result can be deciding not to keep those needed medical appointments.
Try teaching your loved ones or doing a practice call ahead of time.
These are just three tips to enhancing how a senior can use telehealth for better health and allow caregivers more peace of mind and time away. What else would you add to the list?
Technology in senior care: Enhancing the lives of caregivers and residents alike
Although many seniors would prefer to stay in their home, a sudden permanent disability can quickly require 24/7 home-based care that can be too expensive or just unavailable. Fortunately, technological solutions now exist that can enable seniors to continue to live independently or in assisted living residences rather than require relocation to a nursing home.
High tech home living and cleaning devices: An aid for seniors plus their caregivers
From technologically-controlled window shades to robotic vacuum cleaners, technology is enabling daily living activities and chores to be more easily accomplished. According to the US Census Bureau, 40% of adults aged 65 and older have at least one disability, of which 66% have difficulty in walking. Owning high tech home gadgets can simplify (and expedite) daily routines. In this way, the senior living independently or in an assisted living residence can maintain more personal independence than otherwise likely.
Videoconferencing technology and its impact on senior health
The widespread adoption of videoconferencing by seniors occurred largely due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As telehealth services began to replace in-person physician office visits during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, more senior-aged people began to use videoconferencing apps. Through checking in with their doctors and other caregivers via this technology, many seniors were able to manage illnesses and chronic disorders without an in-person visit to do so. In particular, using a videoconferencing app on a Smartphone or computer has enabled seniors to interact with:
- Primary care providers such as physicians and nurse practitioners;
- Physical therapists and nutritionists;
- Psychologists and mental health counselors;
- Family members and friends
Through using telehealth and/or contacting family members online, preventive action to lessen progression to worsened health outcomes was enabled. For example, seniors who had fallen and sprained a knee or ankle could acquire input as to how to treat that sprain to improve faster healing. Thus, a longer period of time for that healing to occur – or a permanent joint disability resulting from improper self-treatment – could be avoided.
Telemedicine linking doctors to specialists: Why this matters for seniors
Many senior-aged people live with heart disease, diabetes (Type-2), kidney disease, or have experienced a stroke. In order to best treat and manage these types of chronic health disorders, primary care doctors typically refer their patients to specialists. For example, cardiologists are heart specialists who can tailor the treatment of a person’s heart disease to their underlying heart disorder and needs. Technological advances in telemedicine are enabling primary care doctors to link online with specialist physicians such as cardiologists to better coordinate their patients’ care.
Whether you are a senior-aged adult or someone caring for a senior, the Ōmcare Home Health Hub® is a technological device that can enable videoconferencing with personal and professional caregivers and managing daily medications. Thus, it can improve safe living in the home or in an assisted living facility.
Medication adherence 101: Why it matters and how to stay on track
The risk of a health disorder worsening is increased by non-adherence to treatment, most often seen as prescription medication non-adherence. Understanding the importance of taking medication as prescribed and implementing strategies to do so helps improve health outcomes.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, non-adherence is associated with higher rates of hospital admissions, worsened health, and an increased mortality (death) risk. Around 50% of all US adults are non-adherent to their prescribed medications. Meanwhile, seniors are the least likely to adhere to medication as prescribed by their doctors.
How medication adherence can impact managing acute and chronic health disorders
The dose of a medication is prescribed for each drug, as well as the drug itself. That dose is determined based on many patient factors, such as:
- Severity of the health disorder to be treated.
- Age of the patient.
- Body Mass Index (BMI) of the patient.
- Time of day a drug in pill form will be taken.
If a person prescribed a specific drug takes it at a lower or higher dose, the drug can be ineffective at treating the disorder or cause side effects. For example, some prescription medications to control high blood pressure (BP) are taken twice per day. If the patient takes it only once each day, the high BP may not be well-controlled. In turn, this could result in a preventable stroke.
Failure to take a prescribed drug – or suddenly stopping it – can lead to negative health effects.
Reasons seniors can fail at medication adherence
Nearly 40% of all adults experience some degree of short-term memory loss after age 65. Senior-aged adults are also more likely to take more daily prescription medications. This is because senior-aged adults are more likely to be afflicted with various chronic health disorders.
Some common chronic health disorders are also linked to an increased risk for depression based on brain chemistry changes. Researchers have found that depressed patients are 76% more likely to be non-adherent to prescribed medications as compared to their non-depressed counterparts. Whatever the reason for the non-adherence, there are methods you can use to stay on better track with your prescribed daily medications.
How prescription drug reminder messages can improve medication adherence
Setting an alarm on an alarm clock is one way to remind yourself to take a prescribed daily medication, many adults do this in order to take a particular prescription drug at a specific time. For seniors transferred from a hospital to a rehab center, the nursing staff will most likely let patients know when to take a prescribed medication and provide it to them. However, patients discharged at home are often left feeling hopeless with managing a complex schedule.
“Smart” digital devices such as Ōmcare’s Home Health Hub® are growing in popularity, due to their ability to provide reminders as well as enable videoconferencing. The Hub is specifically designed for seniors, and it can dispense the prescribed medication in pre-packaged pouches, as well as remind the senior to take it at exactly the right time.