eRx has announced that its Script Exchange application will use the barcodes to assist consumers.
The eRx Script Exchange will be launching the very first smartphone application that will allow customers to connect with its national eScripts network and that it will be available as of October 2013 and will use QR codes to provide them with information they need.
The eRx Express app will gives consumers the ability to scan barcodes to understand and pre-order their medications.
The application will give consumers the opportunity to scan QR codes so that they can pre-order their prescription medications from either their usual pharmacy, or another one that they have chosen. It functions by providing a barcode on the prescriptions, themselves, and which will replicate the eRx barcode data for every individual script.
These QR codes allow consumers to collect their prescription drugs at dates and times that are convenient for them.
At the same time that they collect their prescriptions, they can hand over their paper scripts to the pharmacist, to ensure that all of the requirements for PBS compliance are always met. According to Paul Naismith, the CEO of Fred IT Group, the parent company of eRx, the application was designed to provide a bridge between the mobile environment’s convenience, and the national eRx network’s security.
In a statement from Naismith, he said that “With the explosion in the use of mobile apps over recent years, we are pleased to be launching applications that provide consumers with the mobility and convenience that they want.” He went on to add that “Our primary concern has been in ensuring that we provide this flexibility whilst also ensuring that this and any future apps integrate with and uphold the security and privacy standards of other pharmacy and health applications, including integrating with pharmacy dispensing systems.”
As the application will be using individual QR codes which replicates the eRx barcode data from each script, the script requests that are sent through the app will be integrated into the pharmacy’s dispensing system automatically, so that data never needs to be re-entered by a consumer or employee.
