WatchRx is a wearable designed specifically for medication adherence targeting patients (including elderly) with multiple chronic conditions. This has been specifically designed for people who do not like to (or cannot) use smartphones.

We were personally inspired by the idea while trying to find solutions that could help our aging parents. We found many medication adherence solutions available but most of them were either pillboxes (or pill caps/bottles) or smartphone apps. Some other solutions required a hub in the home and were not usable when outside the home (say, visiting family during the weekends). Through this search, we realized there is a gap to be filled in this space.

Our target users are patients with multiple chronic conditions who may be taking multiple medications and may not remember to take them on time.

Our solution not only targets the patient (using the watch), but is also a centralized coordinated care platform. The full ecosystem of this solution covers the patient, nurse/caregivers, long term care facilities, pharmacies, physicians, insurance providers and family members.

The solution submitted here focuses on the watch for the patient and has a website for physicians and long-term care facility with caregivers. The caregiver is provided with an Android app to stay in touch with the patients.

The watch (as of this submission) has the following features:

1. Downloads all patient related info during setup, including medication schedule and their images
2. Default screen is the clock/time and can be tapped to speak the current time/date
3. Trio feedback mechanism - Audio/Visual/Haptic
4. Medication reminder speaks and displays the name, image, strength and dosage and requires confirm (via tap) for each
5. Medication reminders snooze for 15 mins and re-trigger until the boundary time is crossed
6. When the boundary time of a medicine slot (like breakfast) is crossed and medications are still not confirmed, a “Medication-Missed-Alert” is raised to the system
7. Medication reminder from caregiver (for any missed medication) is triggered once the caregiver uses the app to view the alert and remind the patient
8. Displays “Am-on-my-way” reminder when the caregiver confirms that he/she is on the way to the appointment
9. Supports Visit Verification - A caregiver can trigger visit verification from their app causing the system to send a random 6-digit code to the patient’s watch. This code needs to be entered by the caregiver into their app to complete the visit verification
10. Caregiver can directly call the patient on the watch since it is a phone too

The YouTube video depicts Mary in various scenarios. The biggest advantage of this solution is there is no dependency on Mary's phone (and/or the service she uses). This watch has its own service (both voice and data) tailored to the minimal use of this app. The watch will also block calls from any numbers that are not in the allowed-list.

Over the next many months, we plan to build this solution addressing all of the 5 areas listed here including pharmacy integration.