The iPhone and iPad have provided a remarkable platform for mHealth, empowering consumers to manage their wellness, communicate with clinicians, and support treatment workflow via smartphones.
One of the coolest examples is Walgreens new application which supports automated medication management.
Each medication dispensed or sold at Walgreens has a bar code. After registering the application to your nearest/preferred Walgreens pharmacy, you simply scan the label using the iPhone/iPad camera and it automatically uploads to the Walgreens you’ve chosen. There are alerting functions for all parts of the prescription life cycle. You link your transactions to a credit card on file, drive up to the Walgreens pick up window and they dispense your prescription. The pharmacist asks if you have any questions, just as if you went into the store.
Walgreens summarizes their application features as:
Pharmacy
•New Express Refills by Scan*: Just scan the barcode on your prescription bottle for instant refills
•Order refills from your account history using your device
•Secure access to your prescription history from the palm of your hand
•Enter a prescription number for refills
Photo
•Upload multiple images simultaneously and pick them up at a local Walgreens in about an hour or have them shipped directly to you
Shopping Features
•New Weekly Ad interface featuring cover flow
•Add items to your shopping cart directly from our local Weekly Ads
•Check product availability and pricing at any store
•Flu Shot and Take Care Clinics locator
Using a smartphone as a bar code reader to support medication management workflow and e-commerce. That's cool!
What you are describing here is a "prescription management" app for those of us on chronic medications who need to obtain periodic refills. Medication management as practiced by pharmacists is a much more intensive, evidence-based process that monitors patient outcomes and recommends therapy adjustments to optimize the use of medications.
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