Mobile Medical Applications: Mango Health

The gamification of medication education

Mango health is offering its users a novel way to track their health with a new mobile application available for the iPhone. The app allows users to input the medications and supplements they take, and how often they take them. Mango alerts the user about possible drug interactions, sends out reminders to take medications at the proper times and keeps a history for users who have a hard time remembering if or when their medications have been taken.

Where Mango Health breaks the mold of pill reminder and general health apps is in the gamification experience made of tracking medications. Points are given for entering medications and confirming they have been taken at their appropriate times. Users can “level up” after collecting enough points and each level offers an opportunity to win real-world rewards such as gift cards or donations to a charity. Winners are chosen each Friday and rewards are presented to the winners through an app alert and prizes are usually delivered electronically.

Would making a game out of taking your daily medications and the promise of real-world rewards make you more diligent about taking your pills everyday? How could your organization apply this model to healthcare delivery or health management?