Key conclusion of the study is “Text message reminders targeting patients who delay refilling their cardiovascular medications did NOT improve medication adherence based on pharmacy refill data or reduce clinical events at 12 months.” Authors note that “Poor medication adherence may be due to multiple factors.”
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2827429
My key takeaway from this study is that technology alone (even advanced tech like an AI chatbot) is almost never the solution in healthcare. Technology has to be integrated into systems that allow humans to connect with humans using escalation frameworks that target need at the right time.
At Memora Health we use AI-powered texting to communicate with patients, but our technology also has the ability to refer patients to a nurse or care manager as appropriate to help close care gaps.
It would be interesting in future research to see if a texting+chatbot+human intervention can drive statistically-significant improvements in medication adherence in this population.