One of the lessons learned from the experience of Hurricane Katrina was that the infrastructure for filling prescription medicines, just like many other forms of infrastructure, can be fragile. While we all saw images of water, food, clothes, and blankets ultimately make their way to New Orleans, I certainly didn’t think about the prescriptions that were missing.
Thankfully the national pharmacy chains have recognized the issue and “a group representing some of the nation’s biggest drug retailers — including CVS, Eckerd, Rite Aid, Walgreens and Wal-Mart — said on Tuesday they have developed Rx History, a service that can allow licensed prescribers and pharmacists anywhere in the country to securely access a patient’s prescription history. The move comes in response to displaced hurricane victims and is part of a larger movement to make health information more portable” (reuters.com)
Most Pharmacy chains already have a system to track customer prescriptions, but those systems do not share information across platforms. Rx History will help to change that, ininitally only in the event of a natural disaster, but ultimately as a part of a more intergrated online prescribing system.