Epione

Inspiration

The windowpane was clear and I was staring outside the window obsessing over a particular thought. How can a minor lapse cause a great impact on someone's life? My paternal aunt had Type 1 diabetes for as long as I can remember, and I was too young to realize what that meant, other than sugar is bad for you. She had forgotten her pills back home and since her trip was short, she felt that it can be taken once she comes back home. This was a festive time in India and consumption of sweets is very common during such times. The combination of the lack of pill adherence with sweets created a terrible situation where she was hospitalized with a staggering sugar level of 500! With god's grace, she recovered, but I didn't know the consequences of not following prescription can be as big as this. People need to be made aware, and people must be incentivized to follow it if they don't.

What it does

Epione strives to keep adherence simple and practical. We believe our user shouldn't have to enter prescription instruction manually, as that's not only cumbersome for the tech-savvy, it's also an option that the elderly will never use. Our application takes pill bottle instructional labels and prescription documents handed out by the doctor as primary sources of input. Reminders are auto-generated based on the pill intake pattern specified (structured or unstructured text) and the patient is gently reminded if they're following the course.

In future we expect the app to have features such as automatic Rx refilling that will enable us to keep track of the adherence factor more effectively. Achievement/point and monetary incentive programs can be added into the system for increasing the motivation factor required for following a treatment plan.