Pharmacy Daily | Blockchain script solution

DIGITAL disruption is coming to prescriptions, with the launch of a new Australian start-up company which promises to provide secure and centralised digital prescriptions using so-called 'Blockchain Technology' - the same principle behind internet currency Bitcoin.

Dubbed ScalaMed, the new business offers a fully secure app to allow patients to carry their prescriptions on their smartphone, while pharmacists and other health professionals are able to view a patient's entire medication record, including allergies and doctor's notes, on a single online platform.

ScalaMed founder Tal Rapke said the system "reconfigures the patient-doctor-pharmacy relationship by putting the patient at the centre and creating a single source of truth about an individual's prescriptions".

The technology would remove any need for paper prescriptions, while chasing doctors for scripts would become a thing of the past.

Rupke said rather than competing with existing pharmacy software, ScalaMed acts as the medium to get the correct information to pharmacists at the right time so they can provide high-quality healthcare to their customers.

"We are the railway tracks that move the prescription from the doctors to the consumer, and then from the consumer to the pharmacy of their choice."

All of an individual's scripts are stored in the blockchain and accessible via a single "digital inbox" they can access via an app.

The doctor adds prescriptions to the inbox and patients can forward them to pharmacists who securely retrieve the details and dispense the prescription.

"For the first time pharmacists will be able to see a complete picture of an individual's medication history across providers and pharmacies," he said, with the technology also providing extra checks against fraudulent scripts and doctor-shopping.

The ScalaMed technology will be piloted in Australia starting from next month, with two NSW sites already confirmed & more to follow.