When was the last time you went to the doctor and came away without a prescription?
If you’re like most people, it’s probably been a while. In fact, nearly 75% of doctor visits result in a prescription, and nearly a forth of us take 3 or more prescriptions on a regular basis. * That’s a lot of medications to manage! And a lot of trips to the pharmacy.
The process for getting prescriptions filled hasn’t changed much over the past few decades: Go to the pharmacy and stand in a long line of (potentially contagious) people just to drop your prescription off. And those lines can move slow as pharmacy techs have to gather insurance information, birthdays, and other personal information – all in earshot of others in line. On a good day you can wait for your prescription, wandering the store for 20 – 30 minutes listening for your name to be called. But today’s pharmacies are typically too busy to fill your prescription while you wait. It requires another trip to the pharmacy later that day, or the next day, or even a few days later if they don’t have your particular medication in stock. And then there’s another long for pick-up.
There Has to be a Better Way
All of this may have been fine back in the 90s, but no longer. We’re all busy people today, which is one reason why subscription services have become so popular over the last few years. Can’t remember to buy more dog food? You don’t have to – just subscribe with Amazon Prime. Forgot to pick up a movie at the video store for Friday night? (Wait! What video store?!) No big deal. Just open up Netflix.
Subscription services save us time and relieve us of a lot of the mental energy that goes into our busy lives. But, ultimately, dog food and Friday night movies aren’t life-and-death scenarios. Your prescription medications, however? Now, that’s a different story. Forgetting to take your prescribed medication can result in getting sick and going back to the doctor, or even to the hospital. And the result can be fatal; close to 125,000 people die in the U.S. each year because they don’t take their prescriptions as prescribed – or at all.
Even the packaging of prescription medications is decades old. Trying to open those “childproof” orangey-brown prescription bottles can be tough for a lot of adults, especially those with arthritis or reduced grip strength. Sadly, for many adults living alone or facing the early stages of dementia, simply remembering whether or not they’ve taken their medication can be difficult. And following a complex pill schedule day after day can be a major challenge.
It’s Time for a Change
So, we started to wonder, what if receiving, opening, and remembering to take your prescription medications could be as easy as getting a movie off Netflix?
What if we could all just admit that the current prescription management method isn’t working any more? What if the whole system could be easier in the same way that smart TVs have made it easier to rent movies, and that Uber has made it easier to get a ride?
