Financial incentives, social support and electronic reminders such as wireless pill bottles did not notably improve clinical outcomes or medication adherence among patients following heart attack, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
The study involved a clinical trial of 1,509 insured patients following heart attack with a 12-month intervention taking place from 2013 through 2016. For the study, 1,003 patients participated in an intervention involving electronic pill bottles as well as lottery incentives and social support designed to improve medication adherence, while 506 patients received usual care.
Overall, researchers said they found "no statistically significant differences" between the two groups when it came to "time to first rehospitalization for a vascular event or death," "time to first all-cause rehospitalization," or "total number of repeated hospitalizations."
Additionally, the two groups had the same average medication adherence rate and average medical costs following enrollment.
"A compound intervention integrating wireless pill bottles, lottery-based incentives and social support did not significantly improve medication adherence or vascular readmission outcomes for AMI [acute myocardial infarction] survivors," the study authors concluded.