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Technology Report:Key West Technologies Rx Prescription and Bulk Drug Tracking and Authentication White PaperAccessing information, from anywhere, at anytime, securely, is commonplace today. The time has come to use technology and communications to reduce fraud and errors in prescription drugs and eliminate counterfeit drugs. The practice of medicine will improve, and the solution can pay for itself. Key West Technologies proposes a solution for tracking and authenticating Rx Prescriptions and their associated physical drugs. Applied in a “region”, the solution will significantly curtail both fraudulent Rx Prescriptions and counterfeit drug traffic. The region is somewhat arbitrary as well as scalable, defined by a regional regulatory structure. It mandates that all Rx Prescriptions written within the region, and bulk drugs imported into the region, be tracked in a "Regional Pharma Database". All participants must conform to a defined tracking and authentication standard.
The standard for Rx Prescription tracking will involve an encrypted "authentication code" printed on the prescription in electronically readable form. The Regional Pharma Database will generate the “authentication code”. This authentication code, similar to a barcode number, will be combined with other randomized information from the prescription itself for authentication by the fulfillment pharmacy. The standard for bulk drug tracking will involve the "electronic tagging" of, and tracking of all drugs imported into the region by means of the same Regional Pharma Database. Here is how it works. First, an Rx Prescription will be generated by a healthcare provider utilizing the authentication and tracking framework. Then the pharmacy will validate the prescription using the same authentication and tracking framework, and link it to the actual authenticated drugs used in its fulfillment. This will curtail fraudulent Rx Prescriptions and counterfeit drug traffic in a region. The same framework inherently provides an opportunity to bring a plethora of other benefits to the various stakeholders in the healthcare industry. The Regional Pharma Database, while remaining fully HIPAA compliant, could provide the healthcare industry and the government with early warning trend data for bio-terrorism or other epidemic outbreaks. It could also provide trend data with regard to prescription medication. This Regional Pharma Database can provide healthcare providers a valuable resource for drug information including on-demand as well as real-time drug interaction analysis. The Regional Pharma Database could provide healthcare providers Emergency Medical Records for patients being treated in an emergency situation, by permission or mandate. This envisioned framework will benefit each of the industries stakeholders with virtually no negative consequences. This is a "framework" built around an "open standard" that allows each of its users great flexibility. The database can be accessed and used by any IP / Internet browser capable device including specialized low cost Rx Prescription terminals, traditional computers, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and even mobile phones. Virtually any printer can print the prescription. The framework and its associated process will provide society the obvious benefits associated with curtailing fraudulent Rx Prescriptions and counterfeit drugs. The healthcare provider will benefit from improved accuracy and security of prescription medication. In addition, they can practice better medicine through real-time access to drug information, real-time / transparent drug interaction evaluation and warning, and less time spent writing prescriptions and dealing with associated pharmacy calls and errors. Drug manufacturers will benefit by better public image as well as recovered revenues from the significant decline in counterfeit drugs in the region. In addition, they also benefit from the inherent logistic benefits they and their network of distributors realize. The Pharmaceutical industry benefits from better public image by participating in the fight against fraudulent Rx prescriptions, as well as more efficient and accurate fulfillment. The patient benefits from all of these. Everyone wins and the cost is completely offset by the benefits. This document is in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format. To download the reader, click here. |
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