Device, method, and program for calculating index for quantitatively evaluating medication state

Abstract

To provide a method for calculating a new index for quantitatively evaluating medication states of one or more patients.SOLUTION: First, a device 100 acquires drug information based on one or more prescriptions issued within a predetermined period up to a reference date of evaluation, associated with a first patient among one or more chronic disease patients who visited a certain pharmacy (S201). Next, for each prescription, the device 100 determines the number of prescribed days of the drug with the maximum number of prescribed days and calculates the estimated number of medication days up to the reference date according to the number of prescribed days (S202). Then, the device 100 calculates a value obtained by dividing the estimated number of medication days that has been calculated by the predetermined period as an index for the first patient (S203).SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an apparatus, a method, and a program for calculating an index that quantitatively evaluates the medication status of one or more patients with a chronic disease. [Background technology]

[0002] In medical care, the basis of treatment is taking or using medicine, but it is not always easy for patients to continue taking medicine according to the dosage and instruction. There are various reasons why medicine is not taken appropriately, such as simply forgetting to take it, not understanding the instructions, stopping taking it due to side effects, or stopping taking it due to the belief that one has been cured.

[0003] When a patient takes prescribed medication according to the instructions and dosage and actively participates in treatment, it is called "adherence," and efforts to maintain adherence are being called for. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In order to maintain adherence, it may be possible for pharmacists to actively intervene with patients when they do not visit the pharmacy or when they return. However, it is unrealistic for pharmacists to do this for all patients within their limited time, so it is necessary to quantitatively evaluate adherence and select patients who are at high risk of dropping out of treatment.

[0005] In particular, in recent years, restrictions on long-term drug administration have been significantly relaxed, resulting in a decrease in the frequency of patient visits to clinics and an increased risk of patients dropping out of treatment, and there is a strong demand for practical indicators.

[0006] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and its objective is to provide an apparatus, method, or program for calculating a new index that quantitatively evaluates a patient's medication status. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to achieve this object, a first aspect of the present invention is a method for calculating an index that quantitatively evaluates the medication status of one or more chronic disease patients, comprising the steps of: acquiring drug information based on one or more prescriptions prescribed within a first specified period until an evaluation reference date, which is associated with a first patient among the one or more chronic disease patients; determining the number of prescription days for the drug with the longest number of prescription days for each prescription, and calculating an estimated number of medication days until the reference date according to these prescription days; and calculating a value obtained by dividing the estimated number of medication days by a second specified period, or a value corresponding thereto, as the index for the first patient.

[0008] Moreover, a second aspect of the present invention is the method of the first aspect, further comprising a step of calculating the index for one or more patients other than the first patient among the plurality of chronic disease patients.

[0009] Furthermore, a third aspect of the present invention is the method according to the second aspect, further comprising the step of calculating an average value of the calculated indices.

[0010] Furthermore, a fourth aspect of the present invention is the method of the second aspect, further comprising the step of calculating a standard deviation of the calculated plurality of indexes.

[0011] Furthermore, a fifth aspect of the present invention is a method of any one of the second to fourth aspects, further comprising a step of generating viewing information for viewing at least a portion of the calculated indices and one or more values ​​statistically determined using the calculated indices.

[0012] In addition, a sixth aspect of the present invention is a method of the first aspect, further comprising a step of sending a notification to a terminal used by the pharmacy when the index calculated for the first patient or a value statistically obtained using the index satisfies a predetermined condition.

[0013] In addition, a seventh aspect of the present invention is a method of the first aspect, further comprising a step of sending a notification to a terminal used by the first patient when the index calculated for the first patient or a value statistically obtained using the index satisfies a predetermined condition.

[0014] An eighth aspect of the present invention is the method according to any one of the first to seventh aspects, wherein the plurality of chronic disease patients are a portion of a plurality of patients who visit a predetermined pharmacy.

[0015] In addition, a ninth aspect of the present invention is a method of the eighth aspect, further comprising a step of determining whether each patient is a chronic disease patient based on drug information associated with each of the multiple patients who visited the specified pharmacy.

[0016] A tenth aspect of the present invention is the method of any one of the first to ninth aspects, wherein the specified period is 90 days, 120 days, 150 days, 180 days, 210 days, 240 days, 270 days, 300 days, 330 days, 360 days, or a number of days exceeding any of these.

[0017] Also, an eleventh aspect of the present invention is the method according to any one of the first to tenth aspects, further comprising the step of receiving the reference date.

[0018] A twelfth aspect of the present invention is the method according to any one of the first to eleventh aspects, wherein the second predetermined period is the same as the first predetermined period.

[0019] In addition, a thirteenth aspect of the present invention is a program for causing a computer to execute a method for calculating an index for quantitatively evaluating the medication status of one or more chronic disease patients, the method including the steps of: acquiring drug information based on one or more prescriptions prescribed within a first specified period up to an evaluation reference date, associated with a first patient among the one or more chronic disease patients; determining the number of prescription days for the drug with the longest number of prescription days for each prescription, and calculating an estimated number of medication days up to the reference date according to these prescription days; and calculating a value obtained by dividing the estimated number of medication days by a second specified period or a value corresponding thereto as the index for the first patient.

[0020] In addition, a fourteenth aspect of the present invention is a device for calculating an index that quantitatively evaluates the medication status of one or more chronic disease patients, which obtains drug information based on one or more prescriptions prescribed within a first specified period until a reference date for evaluation that is associated with a first patient among the one or more chronic disease patients, determines the number of prescription days for the drug with the longest number of prescription days for each prescription, calculates an estimated number of medication days until the reference date according to these prescription days, and calculates the estimated number of medication days divided by a second specified period or a value corresponding thereto as the index for the first patient. Effect of the Invention

[0021] According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to quantitatively evaluate the medication status of a chronic disease patient by obtaining drug information based on one or more prescriptions prescribed within a specified period up to the evaluation reference date, which is associated with a first patient among one or more chronic disease patients, determining the prescription days for the drug with the longest prescription days for each prescription, and calculating an index based on these prescription days. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0022] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 shows an apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a flow of a method according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] 3 is an example of a viewing screen according to the first embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0023] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0024] (First embodiment) Fig. 1 shows an apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The apparatus 100 is used by a medical institution such as a pharmacy, and acquires drug information based on a prescription received from a patient visiting the medical institution. The apparatus 100 then uses the acquired drug information to calculate an index for quantitatively evaluating the medication status of a patient with a chronic disease. In the following, a pharmacy will be described as an example, but the present invention can also be applied to medical institutions other than pharmacies.

[0025] The device 100 includes a communication unit 101 such as a communication interface, a processing unit 102 such as a processor or CPU, and a storage unit 103 including a storage device or storage medium such as a memory or a hard disk, and can be configured by executing a program for performing each process or operation in the processing unit 102. The device 100 may include one or more devices, computers, or servers. The program may include one or more programs, and may be recorded in a computer-readable storage medium to form a non-transient program product. The program may be stored in a storage device or storage medium such as the storage unit 103 or a database 104 accessible from the device 100 via an IP network, and instructions included in the program may be executed in at least one processor of the processing unit 102. Data described below as being stored in the storage unit 103 may be stored in a storage device or storage medium such as the database 104, and vice versa.

[0026] The drug information can be generated by capturing an image of a two-dimensional code representing information written on a prescription received from a patient visiting the pharmacy using a computer having an imaging element installed in the pharmacy. Drug information may also be generated by manual input to a computer installed in the pharmacy. The generated drug information can be input to device 100 directly or indirectly from the computer. Drug information can also be input to device 100 by transmitting it to device 100 via an IP network such as the Internet. In any case, it is sufficient that the drug information is input to device 100. Note that the drug actually dispensed may differ from the drug written on the prescription, and drug information encompasses both cases.

[0027] 2 shows the flow of a method for calculating a quantitative index according to an embodiment of the present invention. First, the device 100 acquires drug information based on one or more prescriptions prescribed within a predetermined period until a reference date of evaluation (hereinafter also referred to as a "first predetermined period") associated with a first patient among one or more chronic disease patients who visited a certain pharmacy (S201). The reference date may be received from a terminal used by the pharmacy.

[0028] For example, if a patient receives a 60-day supply of medication on January 1, 2023 and visits the pharmacy every 60 days, the drug information for the first patient will be as follows as of December 27, 2023. In this case, the prescribed period is 360 days. As an example, a patient may be prescribed 50 mg of Glactiv tablets, one tablet at a time, once a day after breakfast. Here, the prescription date is used, but the dispensing date can also be used.

[0029] [Table 1]

[0030] The predetermined period of time may be, for example, 90 days, 120 days, 150 days, 180 days, 210 days, 240 days, 270 days, 300 days, 330 days, 360 days, or any number of days greater than these.

[0031] Next, the device 100 determines the prescription days of the drug with the maximum prescription days for each prescription and calculates the total (S202). In the example of the above table, a single drug is prescribed, but it is not uncommon for multiple drugs to be prescribed by one prescription, and in this embodiment, the maximum prescription days is determined. For example, in clinical practice, it is often the case that a patient suffering from a chronic disease visits a hospital for the chronic disease and is simultaneously prescribed a drug with a relatively short prescription days for an acute disease such as a cold. By using the maximum prescription days, it is possible to distinguish between drugs for the treatment of chronic diseases. In the example of the above table, the same drug is prescribed, but while the treatment of the same disease is continued, the drug is often changed midway. By determining the maximum prescription days and calculating the total, even if such a drug is changed, there is no problem in calculating the index described below. In the example of the above table, the total is 360 days.

[0032] As shown in the following table, if the patient does not visit the pharmacy at 60-day intervals, the value will drop, and in this example, it will be 300 days. However, if we consider that the medication status of the first patient is evaluated using December 27, 2023 as the base date, 23 days are unused medication, so we can subtract this amount to make the total 277 days.

[0033] [Table 2]

[0034] To generalize including such an example, the device 100 determines the prescription days of the drug with the maximum number of prescription days for each prescription, and if the prescription days of the drug with the maximum number of prescription days for the last prescription are added to the prescription date or dispensing date and do not exceed the reference date, calculates the sum of those prescription days, and if they do exceed the reference date, calculates the value by subtracting the excess number of days from the sum. The sum thus obtained can be said to be the number of days estimated for which the first patient took the drug. More generally, the device 100 can determine the prescription days of the drug with the maximum number of prescription days for each prescription, and calculate the estimated number of days of taking the drug until the reference date according to those prescription days.

[0035] Then, the device 100 calculates the value obtained by dividing the calculated estimated number of days of taking the medicine by the predetermined period as an index for the first patient (S203). In the first example described above, it is 1.000, and in the next example, it is 277 / 360=0.769. The value obtained by dividing the estimated number of days of taking the medicine by the predetermined period may be multiplied by a constant or added to the constant, and the calculated value, that is, a value corresponding to the value, may be used as the index. In addition, the predetermined period (hereinafter also referred to as the "second predetermined period") by which the estimated number of days of taking the medicine is divided is conveniently the same as the first predetermined period, but does not necessarily have to be strictly the same.

[0036] Whether or not a patient visiting a certain pharmacy has a chronic disease can be determined based on drug information associated with the patient. More specifically, the correspondence between one or more drugs and the type of disease for which each drug is used is stored in the storage unit 103, and whether or not the patient has a chronic disease can be determined based on the drug information associated with the patient by referring to the correspondence.

[0037] The device 100 may use the calculated index to determine whether the medication status of the first patient is good adherence or poor adherence. For example, it is possible to set 80% as a threshold and determine that adherence is poor if it is less than 80% or below.

[0038] The device 100 can also calculate the above-mentioned indexes for one or more chronic disease patients other than the first patient who visited a certain pharmacy. When multiple indexes are calculated in this way, their average value, standard deviation, or other statistically obtained value may be calculated. For example, it is possible to determine that a patient with a standard deviation less than or equal to a predetermined value such as 50 has poor adherence.

[0039] The device 100 may generate viewing information for viewing at least a portion of the calculated multiple indicators and one or more values ​​statistically determined using the multiple indicators, and transmit the viewing information to a terminal used by the pharmacy.

[0040] FIG. 3 is an example of a viewing screen according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The viewing screen 300 shows the patient name and the retention rate of each patient. The above-mentioned index is called "retention rate" on this screen. For example, Mr. Sakai's 60 / 62=0.967 is good adherence, and he is given the best A of the ABC evaluation. In this example, if the index drops, the evaluation is lowered, and a notification is sent from the device 100 to the terminal used by the pharmacy to encourage intervention, and a pharmacist at the pharmacy makes an intervention by calling. If the index drops significantly, as in the case of Mr. Shimura, it may be evaluated that there is a high possibility that the patient has dropped out of treatment, and the priority of the intervention may be lowered. For example, a notification may be sent for patients whose index is equal to or greater than 1.200, or less than 0.800, or whose index deviation value is less than 50.

[0041] Notification to the patient based on the calculated index may be performed using different thresholds depending on the age, sex, type of chronic disease, etc. of the patient. The notification has been described as being sent to a terminal used by the pharmacy, but may also be sent to a terminal used by the patient. More generally, the device 100 may notify the terminal used by the pharmacy or the terminal used by the patient when the calculated index or a value statistically obtained using the calculated index is less than or equal to a first threshold or is equal to or greater than a second threshold, and more generally, may notify when the calculated index or a value statistically obtained using the calculated index satisfies a predetermined condition. The first threshold, the second threshold, and the predetermined condition may be stored in the storage unit 103 and can be referenced.

[0042] The viewing screen 300 can transmit the viewing information to the terminal as, for example, an HTML file and display it on the display screen of the terminal in a web browser. Alternatively, the viewing screen 300 can be viewed by running an application installed on the terminal used by the pharmacy and displaying it on the application using the viewing information.

[0043] In this way, by obtaining drug information based on one or more prescriptions prescribed within a specified period up to the evaluation reference date, which is associated with a first patient out of one or more chronic disease patients, determining the number of prescription days for the drug with the longest prescription number for each prescription, and calculating an index based on these prescription days, it is possible to quantitatively evaluate the medication status of a chronic disease patient.

[0044] Second embodiment In the first embodiment, an index is calculated for each of a plurality of patients who visit a certain store, and a statistical value is further calculated using the index. In the second embodiment, such statistical values ​​are calculated for a plurality of stores, and a statistical value is further calculated using the index.

[0045] For example, by calculating the average value of the index for each pharmacy, the standard deviation of the average value for each pharmacy can be calculated. By including the standard deviation of the browsing information described above, the target pharmacy can understand its own position in the overall ranking.

[0046] It should be noted that in the above-mentioned embodiments, unless there is a statement of "only", such as "based only on", "only in response to", "only in the case of", or "with reference only", it is assumed in this specification that additional information may be taken into consideration. Also, as an example, it should be noted that the statement "do b when a" does not necessarily mean "always do b when a" or "do b immediately after a" unless expressly stated. Also, the statement "each a constituting A" does not necessarily mean that A is composed of multiple components, but includes the case where the component is singular.

[0047] Also, just to be clear, even if there is an aspect of a method, program, terminal, device, server or system (hereinafter referred to as a "method, etc.") that performs an operation different from that described in this specification, each aspect of the present invention is directed to an operation that is the same as any of the operations described in this specification, and the existence of an operation different from that described in this specification does not make the method, etc. outside the scope of each aspect of the present invention.

[0048] Furthermore, the "start" and "end" shown in Figure 2 are merely examples, and do not mean that the method of this embodiment necessarily starts or ends in the procedure shown. [Explanation of symbols]

[0049] 100 devices 101 Communications Department 102 Processing section 103 Storage section 104 Database

Claims

1. A method for calculating an index that quantitatively evaluates the medication status of one or more chronic disease patients, comprising: obtaining medication information based on one or more prescriptions prescribed within a first predetermined time period leading up to an evaluation reference date associated with a first patient of the one or more chronic disease patients; A step of determining the prescription days of the drug with the maximum prescription days for each prescription and calculating the estimated number of days of ingestion until the reference date according to the prescription days; calculating a value obtained by dividing the estimated number of days of medication by a second predetermined period or a value corresponding thereto as the index for the first patient; Includes.

2. 2. The method of claim 1 , The method further includes calculating the index for one or more patients other than the first patient among the plurality of chronic disease patients.

3. 3. The method of claim 2, The method further includes the step of calculating an average value of the calculated indices.

4. 3. The method of claim 2, The method further includes a step of calculating a standard deviation of the calculated indexes.

5. 5. A method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, comprising: The method further includes a step of generating viewing information for viewing at least a portion of the calculated multiple indicators and one or more values ​​statistically determined using the calculated indicators.

6. 2. The method of claim 1 , The method further includes a step of sending a notification to a terminal used by the pharmacy when the index calculated for the first patient or a value statistically obtained using the index satisfies a predetermined condition.

7. 2. The method of claim 1 , The method further includes a step of sending a notification to a terminal used by the first patient when the index calculated for the first patient or a value statistically obtained using the index satisfies a predetermined condition.

8. 8. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, comprising: The plurality of chronic disease patients are a portion of a plurality of patients who visit a given pharmacy.

9. 9. The method of claim 8, The method further includes a step of determining whether each of the plurality of patients visiting the specified pharmacy is a chronic disease patient based on drug information associated with each of the plurality of patients.

10. 10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, The specified period is 90 days, 120 days, 150 days, 180 days, 210 days, 240 days, 270 days, 300 days, 330 days, 360 days, or a period exceeding any of these.

11. 11. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, comprising: The method further includes receiving the reference date.

12. 12. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, comprising: The second predetermined period is the same as the first predetermined period.

13. A program for causing a computer to execute a method for calculating an index for quantitatively evaluating the medication status of one or more chronic disease patients, the method comprising: obtaining medication information based on one or more prescriptions prescribed within a first predetermined time period leading up to an evaluation reference date associated with a first patient of the one or more chronic disease patients; A step of determining the prescription days of the drug with the maximum prescription days for each prescription and calculating the estimated number of days of ingestion until the reference date according to the prescription days; calculating a value obtained by dividing the estimated number of days of medication by a second predetermined period or a value corresponding thereto as the index for the first patient; Includes.

14. An apparatus for calculating an index for quantitatively evaluating the medication status of one or more chronic disease patients, obtaining medication information based on one or more prescriptions prescribed within a first predetermined time period leading up to an evaluation reference date, the prescription or prescriptions being associated with a first patient of the one or more chronic disease patients; For each prescription, the prescription days of the drug with the longest prescription days are determined, and the estimated number of days of medication until the reference date is calculated according to the prescription days; The index for the first patient is calculated as a value obtained by dividing the estimated number of days of medication by a second predetermined period or a value corresponding thereto.

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