A forthcoming 28-patient study in the American Heart Association's journal Stroke shows that AiCure's artificial intelligence platform led to a 50 percent improvement in adherence to oral anticoagulants.

In the study, a cohort of 28 ischemic stroke survivors was followed for 12 weeks. Fifteen were assigned to the intervention group that used AiCure's software to monitor their adherence daily, and 13 were assigned to a control group with no monitoring. Researchers checked adherence to oral anticoagulants via blood tests and pill counts. They found that 100 percent of the intervention group took their medication daily, compared to only half of the control group.

"In the absence of routine laboratory monitoring, artificial intelligence has the potential to automate a critical component of care — adherence monitoring — and provide continuity of care between visits to ensure patients persist with their therapy and get full therapeutic benefit," Dr. Daniel Labovitz, lead author and director of the Stern Stroke Center at Montefiore Medical Center, said in a statement.

AiCure is a novel medication adherence company in terms of its approach: the company uses a tablet or smartphone's camera to observe the patient taking medications. An artificial intelligence system analyzes the data from the camera to make sure the patient took the medication correctly and sends an alert if they didn't.

The NIH-funded study also demonstrated that AiCure's software is easy to use, even for older patients (mean age was 57) who didn't all have extensive experience with smarthones.

"Many patients are unable to self-manage and are at increased risk of stroke and bleeding," Laura Shafner, study coauthor and chief strategy officer at AiCure, said in a statement. "The use of technology and artificial intelligence has the potential to significantly improve health outcomes and reduce costs in clinical care."