One missed dose may not look like much, but they add up to impact hundreds of thousands of patients' health and trickle downstream through the entire healthcare system. Nonadherence creates complications, return hospital visits, and too often overworked pharmacists juggling refill requests.
Platforms like Mosaicx are tackling the challenge using AI-enabled solutions that enable pharmacies to reach patients precisely when they need a soft push.
Today, we're going to take a closer look at how automating refill requests enhances compliance, streamlines pharmacy operations, and ultimately leads to improved patient outcomes.
Poor medication compliance has been estimated to cost the United States healthcare system billions each year in avoidable expenses. Most of this is from patients who are just not taking their medicines as prescribed, leading to millions of avoidable hospital readmissions and, worse, preventable deaths.
Refill reminders play a major role in turning these alarming numbers around. A 2024 study found that combining text message reminders with financial incentives increased medication adherence by 17.7% among patients taking blood thinners.
Text reminders alone have been shown to enhance engagement and make it easier for type 2 diabetes patients to adhere to their meds in another study.
The importance of refill reminders can also be gauged from the basic fact that forgetfulness is responsible for roughly half of all missed doses. Patients appreciate receiving a gentle nudge that reminds them about their meds.
Pharmacies using automated reminders show proactiveness that says they’re paying attention to your health. This builds trust and removes the stress of realizing you either missed a dose or are out of pills at the last minute.
The traditional, manual process drains time and resources. Your staff spend several hours a day calling, leaving messages, following up with patients, and then repeating the process when patients don't pick up.
Automated refill reminders flip this model for pharmacy patients. The system automatically sends messages in large batches, taking into account the patients' prescription data and their preferred channels.
Therefore, while manual processes make the patient wait longer, automation provides a quick, prompt service that improves satisfaction and, in turn, adherence rates.
Here's how the two approaches compare:
Automated refill reminders don't rely on spreadsheets or mountains of paperwork. They pull data directly from your pharmacy software to find patients who are next in line for a refill. The system then automatically sends them a personalized message to start the refill process.
Your pharmacy management system already has the patient data you need. It's just difficult to manually go through them every day. Automated reminder systems just tap into that data without any need for manual intervention.
Spamming reminders is a big mistake. You need to message patients based on their needs. So, someone with a 30-day prescription has a different timeline than someone with a 90-day supply. The system lets you set such rules to send reminders five days or a week before.
Generic "your prescription is ready" messages don't cut it anymore. Modern systems drop in patient names, list specific medications, and adjust language based on what's worked before. If someone takes four different meds, the system can group those reminders together or split them up depending on when each one expires.
Forget your sticky notes. When a customer responds to a text or clicks the refill button in the app, that request goes directly into your pharmacy queue. What's pending, who replied, and who hasn't replied are all tracked on your staff dashboard.
Suppose a patient ignores a text reminder. The system will follow up by maybe sending an email or flagging the patient for a manual phone call. Such inbound refill reminders become smarter with every interaction, learning from what works for each patient.
Refill reminders work great, but AI turns them into something smarter for pharmacies. The system adjusts itself based on how patients behave to get positive results.
AI does more than insert your name into a message. It tracks when you typically open texts, which medications you refill together, and how you prefer to communicate. If you always check messages in the morning, that's when your reminder shows up.
Platforms like Mosaicx personalize messages by prescription type, patient preference, and visit history, delivering each one through the channel that works best for you.
AI looks at your history to anticipate when you'll likely forget your next refill. So, if you waited a bit longer the last time for your refill, the system will make sure to send you your next reminder sooner.
Even better, machine learning spots patterns to flag patients who might be falling off track. Maybe someone's been stretching their refills longer each time. ML helps your staff to make targeted, proactive outreach to improve adherence rates.
Additionally, pharmacies using this approach can stock medications based on predicted demand.
Conversational AI engages patients just like any experienced pharmacist. They don't need to know the exact drug name. Just saying "my blood pressure meds" works fine. The system figures out which prescription you mean based on your keywords and refill history.
Mosaicx calls them IVAs or intelligent virtual assistants. They're online 24/7 and handle every interaction in a human-like manner, capturing refill requests through natural speech, verifying eligibility through your health records, and sending the order to the pharmacy while you're still on the call.
Every communication channel has its trade-offs. It's why an omni-approach works best since you're meeting the patient where they are, through the channel they prefer.
SMS or text messaging is one of the easiest ways to reach patients because everyone has a phone. They're quick to send and reply to, affordable to run, and let patients read them on their own time.
The downside is that SMS can easily get lost in an overflowing inbox. Some patients might also ignore them altogether.
Voice calls offer a personal touch that other communication channels can't match. They also work better in urgent situations where it's important to confirm you've actually reached the person.
In matters of adherence, hearing someone's voice also provides reassurance that text messages or emails lack. Unfortunately, voice calls are more expensive and time-consuming to manage at scale.
Emails are highly cost-effective and excellent for detailed information like educational campaigns or prescription instructions. Patients also have the convenience of referring to their old emails later. They're not reliable, though, since they can easily be sent into spam folders.
IVRs or interactive voice response systems enable patients to handle routine requests without waiting on hold. They can call anytime to check their prescription status and request refills without the need for any staff to get involved. However, automated menus also feel confusing or frustrating to navigate.
RCS or rich communication services take text messaging a step further. It supports images, videos, maps, and interactive carousels that let patients view details, tap links, or confirm refills within a single message.
It’s everything SMS does, but smarter and more visual. Mosaicx, for example, lets pharmacies send branded, interactive messages via RCS that patients can respond to with just one tap.
The downside is that not all phones or carriers support RCS. You also need an internet connection to even receive the message. Plus, compared to basic SMS, RCS can be more expensive to deploy.
The best results come from using multiple communication channels together. Some patients respond faster to texts, others prefer calls, and younger patients might engage more with RCS messages.
Mosaicx's AI-based platform brings together texts, calls, emails, and RCS reminders in one place. Pharmacies can send automated refill reminders and follow-ups through each patient's chosen channel, reaching more people without requiring additional workload from their staff.
No, you don't need patients to give their consent to receive refill reminders. HIPAA sees these messages as part of patients' "treatment communication", which means they're allowed without requiring any separate authorization.
However, there are a few rules to keep in mind. Firstly, the reminders must be related to the patient's current prescription. It shouldn't contain any other material, including unrelated marketing content.
Secondly, and most importantly, any tech vendor working with your pharmacy must have signed a valid BAA to ensure compliance.
Imagine every refill reminder going out at the right time, through the right channel, with the right message for hundreds or even thousands of patients every day.
Now imagine your staff isn’t overburdened, not a single missed follow-up, and your pharmacy keeps scaling without adding more to the team’s plate.
Sounds like the ideal setup for improving adherence? That’s exactly what Mosaicx brings to modern healthcare.
With Mosaicx Engage, pharmacies and healthcare organizations can finally move beyond rigid automation into true conversational AI. Patients receive interactive reminders as if they're speaking to a live agent.
When it comes to personalization, Mosaicx Outreach takes it further. It tailors every message to each patient’s preferred channel: text, voice, or the next generation of customer messaging, RCS. You send refill reminders that feature your logo, quick-reply buttons, or even secure self-service within a branded chat patients trust and recognize. That’s the power of intelligent automation, one that feels human, not mechanical.
Schedule a demo today if you’re ready to see how Mosaicx can make refill reminders feel effortless, engaging, and impactful.