Davenport native improves medication compliance

By Jonathan Turner, jturner@qconline.com

A Davenport native has won a contract with the state of Tennessee to provide his automated pill dispensers to homebound elderly and disabled patients.

Allen Burggraf, 60, a graduate of Davenport Central High School, is owner and inventor of AutoPills, a medication management system. The state of Tennessee recently agreed to buy the machines on an as-needed basis for homebound people who qualify for TennCare, a government insurance program. The 30,000-square-foot production facility for AutoPills is just outside Memphis.

“Forty percent of the admissions to nursing homes are due to non-compliance in taking medications,” Mr. Burggraf said Thursday from his home near Tampa, Fla. “The state of Florida is losing $260 million due to medication non-compliance, including admissions to nursing homes and hospital admissions.”

In January, Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen called for ways to cut spending for home health and private-duty nursing services (which is costing the state $257 million this year) and help keep people out of nursing homes and other assisted-living centers.

An engineering graduate from Iowa State University, Mr. Burggraf came up with the idea for AutoPills in 1998, while working for a chemical company in the Tampa area. He saw a report that said 56 percent of AIDS patients failed to take their medications for periods of up to 10 days, due to the complexity of the drug regimen.

“There were no other dispensers on the market,” Mr. Burggraf said. “I immediately saw there was a need there -- investigating not only AIDS, but congestive heart failure, the elderly. It was something I saw a great future in developing.

“This product can make a big difference to a lot of people who have to go to a nursing home because they either can't remember to take their medication or they overdose,” he said.

According to a 2006 report in the Harvard Health Policy Review, 73 percent of senior citizens take five or more prescription medications, and 52 percent of seniors with three or more chronic conditions are non-compliant. Part of that is due to financial inability to afford the medications, the study said.

The AutoPills dispenser is a white plastic box about a foot long on each side. It hangs on a wall, runs on batteries or AC power, and is programmed to dispense up to 90 pills a day (and six doses of each pill) into a clear plastic bin.

“AutoPills is not just a pill holder but a capsule and tablet dispenser with an innovative design that automatically dispenses tablets and capsules at the proper times and dosages,” its Web site says.

The machine is pre-set to sound an alarm when the pills should be taken and another alarm if they are not taken at the programmed time. An LCD screen displays a toll-free number people can call with questions about how to set it up, Mr. Burggraf said.

The machine retails for $700 and he is selling them for $630 each to Tennessee, which provides them free to those who are eligible. His plant can produce up to 20,000 dispensers a month, and Mr. Burggraf is working with the states of Oklahoma and Kansas, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to expand his market.

Recently, U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) visited the AutoPills plant, and Mr. Burggraf hopes to testify before Congress to argue for the nationwide need for his product.

“Oklahoma knows this problem is so critical, they actually send a nurse to people's homes, even if it's six times a day, to make sure they're taking their medications,” he said. “They believe that's cost-effective.

“Implementing things is usually a slow process, getting all the fingers of the bureaucracy to understand what it's about,” Mr. Burggraf said, adding that there are 35,000 veterans in nursing homes nationwide, costing around $90,000 a year per patient.

“There's a lot of ways to save, and most of that is due to medications,” he said.

Not only is Mr. Burggraf working with states to approve the technology for public-aid programs, but he's approached UnitedHealthcare and other private insurers to have AutoPills covered under private plans.