Several Pharmacies Offer Online Services For Patients

I’ve recently become acquainted with ePharmacies (I don’t know if that’s the official name, but that’s what I’m going to call it), such as the ones available through Walgreens.com and Target.com. It all started when I realized that my son’s acid reflux medicine was quickly disappearing (which would make life miserable for everyone involved if it was completely gone), and I would need to transfer that prescription from our pharmacy in Utah to somewhere in Colorado. While yes, I could have called the pharmacy of choice to do the transfer, I decided to see if I could. And, lo and behold, I could. Through the process, I discovered the online world of transferring and re-filling prescriptions, and I don’t think I’ll go back.

While there are probably quite a few pharmacies that offer online services, the two I will be talking about today are from Walgreens.com and Target.com. I first started out with Walgreens.com, because it said I would get a $25 gift card for transferring a prescription. The pharmacy website is very well-organized and has a lot of information to help you find what you need. Here is a screen shot of its homepage:

Here, you can refill prescriptions, use express refills, transfer or start a new prescription, as well view information about other topics such as vaccines, drug interactions, health tests, and the more. A Walgreens.com is required to use a lot of the features, but it’s free and they don’t bombard you with tons of junk email.

I really like the “Ask a Pharmacist” page. It lists the answers to common questions about health, but also has the option to talk a pharmacist, day or night…for free! Most of the time things like this cost money, so I think it’s awesome that Walgreens has that option available.

Prescriptions can be picked up in-store or shipped for free, which is nice. I wish I had known about this when I was pregnant, when I got prescriptions for a couple things but never ended up getting them filled because I felt too sick to leave the house and visit the pharmacy. The process to get prescriptions filled isn’t too complicated. After logging in, you either select transfer, refill, or new prescriptions, and enter in the required information (drug name, doctor’s name and phone number — if starting a new prescription –, patient’s name, etc.), and it adds the prescription to your cart, and from there you can specify a pick-up location or shipping address.

There is also the option to manage family prescriptions, which is what I needed to do. Unfortunately, for children under 18, they already must have a prescription at Walgreens before they can be added to a parent’s account. I don’t really like this, because I would have had to call my doctor or former pharmacist to get them to transfer it over to Walgreens so I could get a prescription number for my son, which kind of defeats the purpose of doing it online. I also had issues with the verification process required after getting an account, which was resolved only after talking with a customer service representative for awhile. Overall, I think it’s a good website for those who have already-existing prescriptions at Walgreens, particularly if it is for children.

Since I wasn’t successful with Walgreens, I checked out Target’s online pharmacy. It was a much, much simpler process — it doesn’t even require an account. You can’t fill a new prescription online, but you can refill or transfer one. It only takes a few moments, you indicate if you want it shipped or which store you want to pick it up at, and you are done. I was excited that the process took such little time, but I sure was disappointed when I got to the store only to find out the request didn’t even go through! It must have been a bug with the website, but it was very frustrating. I did find the process simpler than Walgreens, and I might use it again in the future, just maybe not for a transfer.

Target also has a “Mobile Pharmacy”, which can be found on any mobile phone by typing in target.com/RX. It’s very simple, no bells and wishes, but is perfect for someone on the go. There are just a few options — find a pharmacy, refill a prescription, transfer a prescription or sign-up for auto refills. I’d show a screenshot, but it isn’t working on my mobile phone right now. I’m glad that Target offers this option, as I mentioned in my post about Care4Today, I really thought it would be cool to be able to fill prescriptions through a mobile phone.

So these are just two of the many options for ePharmacies. Some are obviously more comprehensive, like Walgreens.com, and others less complicated, like Target.com, but it seems like there is something for everyone. It does make it easier to manage prescriptions, especially when it can be done from a mobile phone.

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August 8, 2012 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: Health Care  Healthcare IT  Medical Devices  mHealth  Mobile Health Care
Tags:Care4Today  Fill Prescriptions Online    Mobile Pharmacy  Mobile Prescriptions  Target Pharmacy  Target.com  Target.com/RX  Walgreens Pharmacy  Walgreens.com

LifeArmor Created for Military Families for Coping with Stress

Recently, the Department of Defense released an app called LifeArmor. This app was created for military families to provide them with the resources to develop coping skills and help them handle mental health issues. LifeArmor has content taken from the website, AfterDeployment, which was created by the Department of Defense. AfterDeployment was launched in 2008 and developed psychologists known as T2 at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord. According to Dr. Robert Ciulla, one of the T2 psychologists involved, the app was developed because of many requests:

Since our website was launched, we had many requests for a mobile app. The success of our website naturally led us to this app which makes sense for a very mobile military population. Although the public can benefit from these applications, we had the needs of the military community in mind when developing this app.

The app addresses 17 topics and uses assessments and videos with personal stories and interactive exercises to help its users work through their problems. Some of the topics incorporated are depression, family and friendships, post-traumatic stress, spirituality, and work adjustment.

The assessments are brief, but allow users to track their symptoms and feelings that have to do with the topic they were learning about in the app. There are quite a few videos from military community members concerning their struggles and how they overcame them. The app is supposed to help members of the military and their family cope and heal, and potentially bring certain issues to light that need to be resolved. However, it shouldn’t replace meeting with an actual therapist.

I really like the idea of this app. My father-in-law works with members of the military as a life consultant and I’m curious if he has recommended this to any of his patient. I know that being in military, either as a family member or in active duty, has the potential for a lot of emotional stress, and that there needs to be more resources available for these people. I think that for those struggling with certain issues that may stem from being involved in the military could greatly benefit from this app, especially because it seems like it aims to help them know that they aren’t alone.

Although I don’t have much use for this app, as neither my husband or me is in the military, I decided to download it. It is very well-organized, and the videos are very good quality. I would definitely recommend it to anyone. A full list of the topics addressed can be found in this article. Here are a few screen shots from the app:

This app is free and currently available for  and Apple, and will soon be released to the Amazon Marketplace.

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August 6, 2012 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: Android  Apple  Health Care  Healthcare IT  Healthcare Social Media  iPhone  Medical Devices  mHealth  Mobile Health Care  Patient Home Monitoring  Smart Phones
Tags:AfterDeployment  Apps for Military  Apps for Military Family  Dr. Robert Ciulla  Joint Base Lewis-McChord  LifeArmor  The Department of Defense

Care4Today Reminds Patients to Take Medications, Fill Prescriptions, and To Take Control of Health Care Situation

An app designed to help patients remember important medical events was recently released for the iPhone. Care4Today, created by Janssen Research & Development, lets its users set up alerts to fill medications, doctor’s appointments, and reminders to take medication. In addition, it allows for easy storage of contact information and passwords.

This app is secure, so users can rest at peace, knowing that their information won’t be accessed by unauthorized people.

One feature I liked was the medication log. It keeps track of when you last took a medication. While it does take a little bit of effort to input that information, it would be helpful for those willing to do that. I know that I’ve forgotten many times when, and even if, I took some a medication or vitamin, and I ended up skipping it because I didn’t want to overdose. For the forgetful type, this is the perfect feature.

Dr. Diego Miralles, head of Janssen Healthcare Innovation, talked about why Care4Today was created:

The Care4Today Mobile Adherence platform can help overcome the number one barrier to consumers taking their medications by providing customized reminders delivered via secure messagiing directly to their cell phone, a device that most people carry with them at all times.

This doesn’t seem to be a new idea — setting up reminders for important events. Whenever I set up an appointment for the doctor, I immediately enter it into my calendar that is on the home page of my phone. I’m not sure if it would prove to be more efficient just to keep doing that, or to actual enter that information into this app. Maybe I’m not understanding the app correctly, but I think I’ll stick with my calendar for keeping track of appointments.

Overall, I think this app would be most helpful for reminders on refilling medications and to take medications. It would be cool if a feature could be added, that, after you receive an alert for a refill, you could select for a message to be sent to your pharmacy of choice with a request to have the medication prepared for you to pick up at a certain time. Not sure how feasible that would be, but it sure would be easier than calling, or just showing up at the pharmacy and hoping there wasn’t a wait (who am I kidding — there is always a wait!)

This app is free though and available for  and the iPhone.

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August 2, 2012 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: Android  Apple  Gadgets  Health Care  Healthcare IT  iPhone  mHealth  Mobile Health Care  Smart Phones  Social Networking Health
Tags:App to Track Medications  Care4Today  Dr. Diego Miralles    Janssen Research & Development      Mobile Health


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