Method of using a medication reminder and compliance system including an electronic pill box

A method of reminding a patient to take a dose of a medication in a timely fashion comprising the steps of:

• providing an electronic pill box having a housing with a plurality of dosettes disposed therein, where each dosette has one or more chambers defined therein and each chamber has a door that is movable between an open and closed position;
• an illumination device positioned to illuminate an underside of the door of each chamber;
• and a switch operatively engaged with each illumination device;
• providing a reminder schedule to a microprocessor in the pill box housing;
• loading appropriate chambers corresponding to the reminder schedule of medication with an appropriate dose of a medication;
• tracking real time relative to the reminder schedule;
• providing a first reminder to the patient to take a particular dose of medication from a particular chamber when the real time corresponds to a time on the reminder schedule and wherein the first reminder includes illuminating the door of the particular chamber with a first color light emitted by the associated illumination device;
• issuing a second reminder to the patient if the door to the particular chamber is not opened within a present period of time;
• providing an electronic device accessible to the patient;
• linking the electronic device to the pill box so that bidirectional communication between the electronic device and pill box is possible;
• and wherein the steps of issuing either of the first and second reminders to the patient further includes providing an alert to the patient via the electronic device;
• and
• recording a compliance event by responding on the electronic device to the alert provided to the patient.