Research shows people with chronic conditions like glaucoma or diabetes can benefit from a friendly reminder to take their medications. Boland, an assistant professor in the Wilmer Eye Institute, says asking medical staff members to provide these reminders has shown to be an effective—yet tedious and expensive—solution.

With a background in engineering, Boland says, “It seemed like a logical extension to use automated text and voice reminders.”

He tested his idea through a study of patients currently using eyedrops to lower the pressure in their eyes to alter the progression of glaucoma.

In the first phase of the study, he used an electronic cap to record when the medication bottles were opened. Based on the readings, he found a significant proportion of patients did not use the drops as prescribed. In the second phase, he created a link between the HealthVault personal health record—like MyChart in Epic—and MEMOTEXT, a company that generates voice and text reminders.

To receive reminders, the patients accessed their list of medications in their personal health record, where they could choose the days and times to receive the reminders and whether they preferred text or voice message reminders. Those preferences were then sent to MEMOTEXT, which generated the reminders.

In the end, Boland found the reminders did increase the number of patients who adhered to taking eyedrops by almost 20 percent. Now, he is working through the details, with the hope of integrating medication reminders into MyChart at Johns Hopkins. “This could be implemented with a minimum amount of effort on the part of medical practices and patients,” he says.

In addition to medication reminders, the same interface could send educational materials, such as tips, strategies or general disease information, to patients when requested.