Looks like prescriptions are going digital, at least for MMRGlobal Inc’s wholly owned subsidiary MyMedicalRecords, Inc., which recently revealed it has received a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office to use digital prescriptions, allowing patients to manage and access them online.
The new patent, U.S. Patent Number 8,498,883 called “Method for Providing a User with a Service for Accessing and Collecting Prescriptions,” is designed to allow MyMedicalRecords to begin allowing medical professionals to send their prescriptions to pharmacies electronically. In addition, users will be able to access current prescriptions from their local pharmacy, schedule refills of current scripts online, set their phone and/or e-mail to receive reminders when they are due for a refill, and even get side effect medical advice.
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Although MyMedicalRecords did not confirm when the service would become available and/or how its users would begin to gain access to it – this is not the first time healthcare companies have looked to technology to make going to the doctor easier. Lately there has been a big push for all hospitals, medical professionals, and doctors to switch over from traditional paper records to electronic medical records for all of its patents.
Switching over will not only allow for patients records to be pulled regardless of what state they are in, in case of an emergency, but it will also be more cost-effective long term, keep patient data more secure and preventing the need for doctors to store paper medical records for years in their offices.
Providers for diagnosis and treatment of patients will be the primary users of electronic Medical Records (EMR). Additionally, the Department of Health said the records would help provider’s track data over time, identify patients who are due for preventative visits and screenings, monitor how patients measure up to certain parameters and improve overall quality of care.
It is expected that most records will be converted into digital records over the next couple of years, along with prescriptions.
Edited by
Rachel Ramsey
