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Way to Text

Way to Text

Adherence monitoring for hypertension control

Project status

Pilot/study with results

Collaborators

Kevin Volpp, MD, PhD

Innovation leads

Opportunity 

Hypertension affects about 30 percent of adults in the United States and is a leading contributor to the global disease burden. Poor medication adherence contributes to inadequate control of hypertension. However, the value of adherence monitoring is unknown. 

Intervention 

A team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania leveraged Way to Health to evaluate the impact of monitoring medication adherence on hypertension control. In a randomized controlled trial, 149 primary care patients with hypertension received usual care, monitoring and feedback with electronic pill bottles that transmit opening data, or monitoring with bidirectional text messaging for four months. 

Impact 

Despite good measured adherence, neither feedback with electronic pill bottles nor bidirectional text messaging about medication adherence improved blood pressure control. Adherence to prescribed medications was not improved enough to affect hypertension control or it was not the primary driver of poor control. 

Way to Health Specs

Learn more about the platform
Activity monitoring
Arms and randomization
Criteria-based rules
Dashboard view
Device integration
eConsent
EHR integration
Email
Enrollment
Gamification
Incentives
IVR
Multiple languages
Patient portal messaging
Patient-reported outcomes capture
Photo messaging
Remote patient monitoring
Schedule-based rules
Survey administration
Two-way texting
Vitals monitoring