Polypharmacy: Many individuals are taking multiple medications. Approximately 45% of Americans over age 65 are taking 5 or more prescription medications.

Adherence: Especially for those taking multiple pills, the adherence (or compliance rate) is often low. It is estimated that 50% of medications are not taken as prescribed. Adherence tends to fall as the number of medications an individual is taking increases.

Costs of Low Adherence: Non-adhering patients contribute an estimated $300 Billion in additional healthcare costs in the US alone, and also contributes to avoidable morbid and mortality. Poor adherence leads to poor outcomes.

Personalization: Not all drug or common doses work for all individuals. Differences in weight, age, activity, and diet to pharmacogenomics (how ones genes impact drug metabolism) and other factors can be dramatically impact drug dosing and selection. Many drugs are only available in ‘one size fits all’ dosing… and pill-cutters are the ‘cutting edge’ technology used to adjust dosing for some patients.

Slow Feedback Loops: Health data tends to be intermittent (usually only collected in the clinical setting) and leads to slow to non-existent feedback loops, and a reactive care model. With the emergence of mobile digital tools, from connected blood pressure cuffs, to wearables that track heart rate to sleep… continuous, connected data from a patient can be utilized to help optimize medication selection, dosing and adjustment.