After visiting the doctor for the flu or other common complaint, the last thing consumers want to do is to make a second trip to a pharmacist and wait while their prescription gets filled. InstyMeds, a US startup, has devised a novel way to make getting medications easy. The company’s vending machines are designed to be placed in doctors’ offices, clinics, emergency rooms and other healthcare facilities. Each holds 100 of some of the most often used medications that can range from pills to drops to creams and so forth.
InstyMeds machines require that physicians create prescriptions electronically, which are then transmitted to the vending location. (Alternately, patients can take printed prescriptions to their regular pharmacists.) The machines include several safeguards to insure patients receive the proper medications their doctors ordered. From the patients’ point of view, however, the ordering process is relatively simple. They enter their prescription number and birthday via a user-friendly touchscreen monitor, then insert either cash or credit cards to cover co-pays, while their insurance companies are billed automatically.
Besides saving time for patients, InstyMeds machines also save pharmacists the slow and potentially error-prone process of counting out medications by hand. Indeed, relieving pharmacists from such routine tasks could turn out to be the machine’s major benefit. With pharmacist salaries in the United States climbing over USD 100,000, the time savings can mean significant cash savings. The vending machines, which are accessible 24/7, likewise could help alleviate a growing shortage of pharmacists. Moreover, InstyMed’s founders note that by handling routine prescriptions the vending machines let pharmacists focus on more important tasks such as counselling patients.
While start-up costs are likely to be high for any new venture in the heavily-regulated health arena, InstyMeds illustrates how entrepreneurs can devise niche products that handily meet customer needs while potentially chipping away at ever-growing healthcare costs.
Website: www.instymeds.com
Contact: info@instymeds.com
Spotted by: Anne Rogan
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Dear Ms. Rogan,
Thank you for the informative post on InstyMeds' innovative new prescription drug vending machine. You bring to light many of the advantageous benefits of using this product including saving “pharmacists the slow and potential error-prone process of counting out medications by hand” and the possibility to “alleviate [the] growing shortage of pharmacists”. However, I do think it is also important to discuss the potential negative effects of these automated machines. For one, you state that “the machines include several safeguards to insure patients receive the proper medications their doctors ordered”, how can one be sure that the right medicine is dispensed every time and properly stored in the vending machine? Utilizing your link to InstyMeds' website, and reading the company’s description of their equipment’s safety features, I am still not convinced that the majority of people would feel safe obtaining prescription drugs from a vending machine. With no pharmacist present, there is a greater concern for dangerous drug interactions going undetected and a lack of consultation that may negatively impact a patient’s health. You also present the argument that InstyMeds' prescription drug dispensing system may reduce the need for pharmacists and “potentially chip away at ever-growing healthcare costs”. I would like to expand on that by saying that one must take a complete cost-benefit analysis of the implementation of the new system. Even though, the number of pharmacists needed may be reduced, the machines still have their own maintenance costs and doctors must learn to “create prescriptions electronically”. As seen with electronic medical records, many doctors refuse to make this digital change. Nevertheless, even with the controversial issues surrounding this type of system, the product, as you stated, does have a lot of potential. One way of introducing this system which may put more consumers at ease, is to have the vending machines behind the pharmacy counter like the way El Monte Comprehensive Health Center is contemplating doing. This would eliminate the “counting of medications” and allow pharmacists to continue their consultation with patients to double check the vending machine’s success and ensure product safety.
a tad unethical, you need to explain the medicine to patients and not just dispense it, Also the machine will pay no attention to the patients medical history to see if the prescription is suitable, And what if the machine is loaded wrong? will you get some completely different pills?
this machine has way too many problems just waiting to happen!
Omar Sarhan | November 4, 2007 4:26 PM