Following a successful nine-month pilot, Boehringer Ingelheim and HealthPrize Technologies announced that the digital adherence support program RespiPoints will be expanded to any patient who is taking certain Boehringer Ingelheim medications, including some available in the Respimat inhaler.

Launched in 2016, the web- and mobile-based RespiPoints program offers patients a variety of adherence-building activities and challenges that reward points redeemable for electronic gift cards. These include reporting daily adherence, verifying monthly medication refills, reading educational materials, and completing quizzes and surveys. The program is free to those receiving a medication included in the program.

“We strongly support the role of innovative health technology solutions in respiratory treatment plans to help improve healthcare outcomes,” Jean-Michel Boers, president of Human Pharma at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, said in a statement. “We partnered with HealthPrize to adapt their interactive patient solution, and we are very pleased with the impact of RespiPoints, which has made a positive difference in patients’ adherence to daily treatment plans and their understanding of the disease.”

The pilot was designed to help patients improve their knowledge of COPD and begin following healthy habits. According to the company, implementing the program led to an 85 percent decrease in the number of gap days between refilling their next prescription, and 56 percent remained active across the entire nine-month pilot period. Eighty-four percent of the participants reported that they had used the information or tips learned through the service in their self-care. On average, participants visited the RespiPoints website 4.6 times and viewed the page for 50 minutes monthly, with 71 percent of the participants reporting that they would be “very likely” to recommend the program to friends or family member taking the same medication.

These results and others were also presented today at the 2018 DTC National Conference in Boston.

“The results from the RespiPoints program confirm the value of the HealthPrize platform to enroll and engage people who may need additional support to better understand and manage their health,” said Tom Kottler, co-founder and CEO, HealthPrize. “Understanding the multiple challenges of non-adherence, an engagement program that gets patients to take specific actions, such as refilling their medication after a long gap, can help people increase their adherence, follow their healthcare provider’s treatment plan and improve their health.”

The two companies first announced their partnership on the program in June 2016, the same month that HealthPrize closed their most recent financing round for an undisclosed sum.