A Simpler Way to Manage the Prescriptions

A pillbox I freecycled on behalf of a client.

People who need a large number of prescriptions every day can spend a lot of time managing those prescriptions — with a lot of chances for something to go wrong. (Did all the prescriptions get refilled on time? Did those pill boxes get filled correctly?)

Sometimes organizing is about looking for ways to simplify things, and this is a situation calling out for simplification. In the past couple days, I've read about two companies that help with this.




I heard about the first one from Morgan Gleason, who takes 10 medications. You can hear her talk about this in the video above, which you can also see via this YouTube link. The company Morgan is working with is HealthStatRx, "a full service specialty pharmacy, with a comprehensive line of products and services to meet the needs of homecare patients with any chronic disease state." This includes custom blister pack medications and home delivery.




Another company that seems to be offering a similar service is PillPack, whose services are described in an article on TechCrunch, which I found thanks to Mathew Spolin. PillPack is licensed in 31 states, and is designed for people take five or more medications per day. As TechCruch explains:

Essentially, the program allows customers to have their medications shipped to them every two weeks in a (yes, two-week) roll of individual packets that are organized by time and date — rather than using those standard, ubiquitous bright orange pill bottles. Beyond their prescriptions, customers can also sign up to receive any over-the-counter medications or vitamins that they happen to be taking on a regularly basis as part of each shipment.

And AccuPax, which I heard about some time ago from organizer Mary Donovan, also seems to provide a similar service; that's its tagline above. The company provides statistics on how often medication errors happen; avoiding these problems is why using such a service might be a good idea.

Obviously, I am not a doctor, a pharmacist, or an insurance specialist — and I don't know if these services are right for anyone. But, for some people, they seem like services that might be worth investigating — in consultation with their own medical professionals.