Featuring posts written by the DoseSpot e-Prescribing Integration Team!

“Protecting the pill:” Johns Hopkins students develop tamper-proof, biometric pill bottle

Posted: July 1st, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: Basics, Controlled Substances, In the News, Security, Standards | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

Over the past few years, prescription drug abuse has been a heated topic here in the U.S. among healthcare professionals and policymakers alike. Engineering students within Johns Hopkins University’s Whiting School of Engineering are taking strides to address continuously alarming drug abuse statistics with the creation of a novel, tamper-proof pill bottle.

As cited in HIStalk Connect’s article, the engineering students were called upon by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to undertake this special project. With more than 16,000 annual deaths attributed to prescription drug-related overdoses, the goal of Hopkins’ project was to develop a robust pill bottle that would help control the nation’s relatively unsecured supply of prescription narcotics. According to assistant professor at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Kavi Bhalla, the overseeing team wanted “this personal pill ‘safe’ to have tamper resistance, personal identification capabilities and a locking mechanism that allows only a pharmacist to load the device with pills.”

The four engineering undergrads assigned to take on this project answered accordingly–by developing a 2.75 pound, nine-inch-tall, steel-constructed pill bottle that can withstand any hammer or drill activity. Additionally, fingerprint scanners are used to regulate dispensing and ensure that pills are only released to the patient a medication is prescribed to–at proper time intervals and in correct doses. After gaining positive feedback from both Bloomberg clinicians and pharmacists at the on-campus Rite Aid, Hopkins engineering students uncovered an important and overlooked design value: the ability to record medication adherence rates. If connected to a monitoring system, the tamper-proof pill bottle (again, equipped with fingerprint reading capabilities) could eventually be useful to payers and health systems working to reduce funds wasted on poor medication adherence.

For healthcare software companies looking to incorporate the ability to electronically prescribe controlled substances (EPCS), DoseSpot could be your solution of choice in just a few hours, days or weeks! Through our third party EPCS audit with Drummond Group Inc., a global software test and certification body that is approved by the Drug Enforcement Administration to audit EPCS software applications, DoseSpot is now able to deliver audited and trusted EPCS software applications to customers. For more information on DoseSpot’s EPCS software, please download our Integration Tool Kit here!

SOURCE: HIStalk

About DoseSpot 
DoseSpot is a Surescripts certified e-Prescribing platform specifically designed to integrate with electronic health record, electronic dental record, practice management and telehealth software. DoseSpot is certified to e-Prescribe controlled substances and has provided simple, affordable and integratable e-Prescribing solutions to healthcare IT companies since 2009. For more information, please visit http://www.DoseSpot.com.


Healthcare Startup Spotlight: Heal

Posted: June 16th, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: In the News, Telehealth, Venture funding | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments »

Startup: Heal

Founders: Nick Desai (CEO) and Renee Dua, MD (Chief Medical Officer)

Website: www.getheal.com                         Funding: $3.7 million

Funding Fun Fact: Lionel Richie is an investor!

Currently Operating In: Los Angeles and San Francisco

Overview: A new version of the housecall is taking shape and Heal is front and center in this innovative style of healthcare delivery. Described as “health care at a distance,” telemedicine and virtual housecalls typically require the use of telecommunications by physicians to diagnose, consult, treat and transfer medical data. A doctor and patient can conduct or schedule an appointment online–and that’s exactly where Heal comes in.

Coined “An Uber for Doctor Housecalls” by the New York Times, Heal is a smartphone app that mirrors the Uber workflow–but instead of a car showing up, a doctor arrives at one’s door for assessment and treatment. Patients can download the Heal app and then enter details such as home address and the reason for the visit. After adding in credit card information, a patient can then request a visit from a family doctor or pediatrician and within 20-60 minutes, the physician arrives for a flat fee of $99.

Heal physicians arrive equipped with a medical assistant and handy dandy kit filled with the latest high-tech gadgets such as tools for taking vitals and otoscopes (used to examine the ear). Heal officially kicked off in its first city, Los Angeles, this past February and recently expanded to San Francisco. High growth is expected over the next year, as Heal plans to roll out in 15 additional major cities.

Want to learn more about Heal and see if the housecall is right for you? Check out www.getheal.com now!

SOURCE: EmpowHER and NY Times 

About DoseSpot 
DoseSpot is a Surescripts certified e-Prescribing platform specifically designed to integrate with electronic health record, electronic dental record, practice management and telehealth software. DoseSpot is certified to e-Prescribe controlled substances and has provided simple, affordable and integratable e-Prescribing solutions to healthcare IT companies since 2009. For more information, please visit http://www.DoseSpot.com.