MyMeds, started informally years ago by a doctor frustrated over patients who wouldn't take their prescription medicine, is getting traction.
Northeast-based MyMeds this week struck a collaboration with Mayo Clinic Global Business Solutions, "marking a major step in the healthcare sector's efforts to combat patient non-adherence to doctor-prescribed medications."
Medication non-adherence, patients not taking their medications properly, is one of the costliest healthcare challenges plaguing employers, health plans and health systems across the industry. It's estimated that about $300 billion of the annual $1 trillion tab for prescription medicine in the United States is wasted.
"As a doctor, I've seen firsthand the challenges – both medical and from a cost-perspective – that result from patients missing their medications or misunderstanding their prescriptions," said CEO Rajiv Shah, the founder and an owner of MyMeds. "This [Mayo] collaboration supports patients by providing accurate, easy to understand information while helping address this significant issue affecting everyone in healthcare."
Rajni Shah, head of clinical affairs and business development for MyMeds, said the 11-employee company works with pharmacy benefit managers, employers and insurers on the MyMeds digital platform, backed by humans, to educate patients about their medications and help take them on schedule.
"We can create the best drugs but if you don't take them, what's the point," Rajni Shah said. "Only 50 percent of people take their 'meds' properly. They skip them or get confused or stop taking them.
"A majority of people forget or don't understand why they are taking them, particularly when they feel poorly. So they stop. That puts them in the hospital or means more surgery. You take the drug for Hepatitis C for 12 weeks and your cured. But if you quit taking it, society is out $150,000 [the cost of the treatment] and you are not cured."
Shah said MyMeds is capitalized with more than $5 million from affluent "angel" individual investors. She said unspecified revenue should double this year over last year.
