WADSWORTH, Ohio — Ritzman Pharmacy is giving patients a hand in following their prescription regimens via Design Rx, a system that sorts and prepackages medications in daily doses.

Citing a 2014 survey by the National Community Pharmacists Association, the drug chain said Tuesday that medication synchronization programs like Design Rx have helped improve overall medication adherence.

The Design Rx Paks can be picked up at any Ritzman pharmacy location or delivered to a patient’s home.

The Design Rx system streamlines prescription refills to be picked up once a month, all in one place, so that patients are taking medications correctly and not running out, according to Ritzman. The chain’s new Design Rx Paks also organize medicines into presorted daily pouches — with the time of day noted clearly — packed into an attractive, portable box that’s more convenient in terms of use and travel than conventional pill bottles.

Ritzman said it works closely with doctors and health insurers to align refills on a single day of the month, ensuring the proper authorizations and refill considerations. All medications arrive prepackaged in pouches. The Design Rx Paks are refilled automatically every month with 28 days of prepackaged medications, and they can be picked up at any Ritzman pharmacy location or delivered to a patient’s home.

The drug chain, which has 25 pharmacy locations in northeastern Ohio, noted that Design Rx is especially convenient for patients on multiple medications that have different refill dates.

“Like all of our products and services, Design Rx Paks were developed to help customers achieve optimal health and wellness,” Beth Husted, general manager of central services for Ritzman, said in a statement. “About 20% to 50% of patients are nonadherent to prescriptions, meaning they do not refill their prescriptions on time or may take doses incorrectly or at the wrong time. With the Design Rx Pak, customers — and their loved ones — can go about their lives knowing their prescriptions are taken care of every day.”

For every 100 prescriptions, only 25 to 30 are taken properly, and nonadherence is estimated to cause 125,000 deaths annually, Ritzman reported, citing research from the American College of Preventive Medicine. What’s more, according to AssistMed, an average of 3.5 million hospital admissions annually stem from patient noncompliance with their prescriptions, the drug chain said.

“We are proud to offer this unique service to make our customers’ journeys to health simple,” commented George Glatcz, chief operating officer of Ritzman. “It’s items and services like this that bring our commitment to exceptional service and care to life.”