Med-Entrepreneurs Use Computer Vision And Smartphones To Address The Human And Economic Impact Of Medication Errors And Non-Adherence

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Dec. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- MedSnap, LLC, a healthcare informatics company that has developed mobile application solutions to improve medication adherence and safety, today introduces the MedSnap Pill Mapping Project, a healthcare initiative designed to visually map the identities of thousands of prescription pills.  The Project, which utilizes a mobile application and smart phone, allows a clinician, patient and/or caregiver to capture and reveal a set of pills' identities in seconds.  

By inviting the healthcare community, including healthcare systems, hospitals, pharmacy schools and healthcare professionals to rally behind the monumental effort, MedSnap believes its Pill Mapping Index (PMIX) will mark a critical step in addressing the medication adherence and safety crisis in America.  With the Index, healthcare professionals will be in a unique position to leverage MedSnap's visual-identification technology to improve their medication safety and reconciliation processes.  Having already started the initiative with several healthcare institutions, MedSnap has a Pill Mapping Index of thousands of drugs comprised of hundreds of thousands of images thus far. To incorporate the remaining pills, MedSnap is reaching out to healthcare professionals for assistance.

How Clinicians Can Help MedSnap Visually Organize the World's Pills

By going to MedSnap.com and signing up to participate, selected professionals will be given an advanced release copy of the MedSnap Identify (ID) app to screen the drugs in their formulary. All user-submitted Snaps will be electronically sent to MedSnap's clinical staff for review, and then incorporated into the MedSnap PMIX. Participants must have an iPhone™ 4S or iPhone 5 to participate. MedSnap estimates that up to 1000 professionals may be required to complete the Pill Mapping Project.

Industry's Sense of Urgency

MedSnap recognizes that medication non-adherence is responsible for about 125,000 preventable patient deaths and $290 billion in unnecessary healthcare spending in the U.S. annually.  By placing a national healthcare call to join the Pill Mapping Project, MedSnap believes it can launch its first smartphone mobile application for the clinical market as early as Q1 2013. 

"Because we want both clinical and non-clinical users to be able to use our applications for medication safety wherever they evaluate or take medications, we must identify, and then model each medication in as many lighting situations as possible to ensure accurate identification," explains, Patrick Hymel, MD, chief executive officer and co-founder of MedSnap, LLC.  "The more images that are available for a particular pill, the higher degree of accuracy in its identification.  And so we recognize the magnitude and the timeliness of what we are doing which is why we are inviting the medical community to join us.  Thus far, we have received enormous support and as a result, have tremendous momentum heading into 2013."

Founded by med-entrepreneurs, Dr. Patrick Hymel and Dr. Stephen Brossette, MedSnap ID enables clinicians and medical service personnel to identify prescription medications by name and strength, screen for drug interactions and other warnings and access detailed clinical information such as dosage and administration information via a comprehensive drug database.

MedSnap's complete product line is a set of smartphone apps that work together to make the entire medication process safer. The first, MedSnap ID (Identify), allows clinicians to quickly screen sets of pills for their identity and check for drug interactions. The second, MedSnap PT (Patient) is for patients to ensure each dose they take is correct, documented and available for secure review by their loved-ones or clinicians. The third, MedSnap CG (Caregiver), is an app that securely pushes MedSnap PT data to family and friends so they know how their loved one is taking their medications.

"Medication non-adherence is a serious problem for patients, employers and healthcare providers," states Stephen Brossette, MD, PhD, chief science officer and co-founder of MedSnap, LLC.  "Fortunately, we believe we have technology-based solutions that we can soon put in the hands of clinicians, patients and caregivers that will improve medication adherence, improve outcomes and reduce healthcare costs."

For those interested in joining the Pill Mapping Project, please go to www.medsnap.com.

SOURCE MedSnap, LLC