Project Overview

In most industrialized countries seniors make up the fastest growing age group (Canada, 2014; WHO, 2010, 2011). All Canadian provinces health systems are concerned since patients over the age of 65 are among the top users of healthcare resources (Quebec, 2012). In Quebec, as of July 2016, the proportion of people aged 65 and over was estimated at 18.1% in 2016, 25,2% in 2031 and 28,5% in 2061 (Québec, 2016).

Constant medication monitoring is crucial to maintaining a satisfactory condition since persistent pain is highly prevalent, costly, and frequently disabling in the older patient’s life (Makris, Abrams, Gurland, & Reid, 2014; Weiner & Rudy, 2002).

Unfortunately, currently, medication monitoring is far from being secure, due to frequent errors, from the loss of medication to confusion in medication intakes. When the elderly struggle with multiple disease states and chronic conditions, medication regimes that are not well controlled might be a source of drug misadventures and adverse effects, including morbidity and mortality (McDonnell, Jacobs, Monsanto, & Kaiser, 2002). Mismanaged medication is also an important driver of hospital admissions, increasing health costs (Osterberg & Blaschke, 2005). Therefore, the research and development firm MediPense (MediPense, 2017) is working on a smart personal medication dispensing and remote monitoring solution that can assist seniors with their medication management in their homes. MediPense is joining its efforts to the RxPense® firm (RxPense, 2016) taking in charge the whole range of device commercialization, in Quebec and in other Canadian provinces and territories. The RxPense technology has the potential to transform the medication intake monitoring practice through smart digital surveillance. The research here proposed is a preliminary proof-of-concept study of organizing medication monitoring for the elderly and their caregivers within a business ecosystem of homecare where the social, ethical, economic and policy implications are considered.. It aims at describing and explaining how and why RxPense is adopted and how it might reduce hospitalization costs while increasing homecare quality.