Over 40 million Americans take 5+ prescription meds a day—but only 50% of Americans take them as prescribed. 

According to the founders of PillPack, patients who fall into the category of having multiple prescriptions face the challenge of unsynchronized renewals, inadequate oversight from pharmacists and challenges staying on top of insurance billing and the number of available refills. Additionally, there is the obvious problem of remembering which medications are to be taken at a specific time and tracking if they have actually been taken. And many patients also have caregivers who need to be included in medication management. 

The PillPack

PillPack attempts to solve the challenges of multiple prescriptions by streamlining the front end of the pharmacy experience. The group medications into the simplest schedule possible in easy-open packs for patients (and their caregivers). Because the PillPack makes it easy to know if medications for a schedule have been opened, the challenge of sharing caretaking duties for a patient is also made easier—it’s not as necessary to have pen & paper or online tools for tracking adherence to a prescription schedule.

ONLINE PORTAL

Additionally, an online portal for the patient and/or their caregivers allows for easy administration without requiring a trip to a pharmacy or lengthy phone calls.

COORDINATING STAKEHOLDERS THROUGH A PHARMACY OPERATING SYSTEM 

PillPack is made possible by a platform the company calls Pharmacy OS. Pharmacy OS coordinates between four key stakeholders: 

• Payers, who authorize payments and who need to be checked with to verify authorization
• Doctors, whose prescriptions need to be captured, and who renew prescriptions
• Customers (Patients and/or their Caregivers), who need to be supported in understanding their medications’ schedules and interactions, and who update the pharmacy about any changes
• The Pharmacy (in this case, PillPack), who optimizes the purchasing and dispensing of medication

Together, PillPack and PharmacyOS have the potential to disrupt the pharmacy industry by optimizing the experience of the large portion of Americans who need to manage multiple prescriptions. It solves several parts of the challenge of adhering to complex schedules from the patient & caretakers’ perspective, reduces the risk of over-spending, renewal surprises or unexpected expenses for patients and insurance payers, and minimizes challenges requiring the last-minute contact of the prescribing physician.