George Daskalakis’ business idea RxHx presents a new way to view medication histories
Picture this. You are a busy community pharmacist. The phone is ringing, a technician is off sick, you have dozens of prescriptions to process and a long-time patient approaches you with a new prescription. The patient thinks they’ve taken this medication before, a few years ago. You open your software system and look up the patient; you see a long list of information. Locating what you need to know takes time. The phone is still ringing and there are two other patients in line.
Enter RxHx. The business venture proposed by George Daskalakis, fourth-year pharmacy student, was built with situations like this in mind. George is the winner of the Pharmasave Business Competition, an event where pharmacy students design innovative business plans and compete for a $5000 prize.
“Current pharmacy software systems were built around controlling the inventory of medications in and out of the pharmacy,” George says. “These tools have not kept up with the evolving role of the pharmacist. In particular, their user interfaces are remarkably inefficient for the majority of a modern pharmacist’s daily tasks.”
By George’s calculations, RxHx can save pharmacists approximately 30 minutes per day, creating availability for clinical services that add value for patients and increase revenue.
“The goal of RxHx is to modernize pharmacy management systems, freeing up time so that pharmacists can practice to their full scope,” he says.
Most pharmacy software displays patient medication profiles in a list format. Pharmacist have to scroll tediously through that list, looking for specific information so that they can better answer drug-related questions, conduct clinical services and ensure the therapeutic appropriateness of dispensed medications.
“RxHx takes that list and turns it into a timeline,” George says. “Pharmacists no longer have to data mine when analyzing patient profiles. Since medication histories are displayed in a timeline, pharmacists can more easily navigate to the information they need to answer basic questions about medication regimens such as when one medication dose was changed relative to the initiation of another medication. In addition to saving pharmacists time, the software is much more visually appealing than staring at lists of medications all day.”
It’s a simple concept, but one that was compelling to the judges of the 2020 competition, all of whom were seasoned entrepreneurs and business people. In 2020, the business case competition was embedded in a senior pharmacy student course on entrepreneurship. Students create a venture idea that develops or discovers a new product or service innovation within the world of pharmacy. They bring it to life through the Lean Startup methodology. Like with developing a real company, students are invited to consult other experts among their classmates and in the pharmacy field to refine their idea. They must conduct research, develop a business plan and present it to the panel of judges.
Top row, left to right: Josh Gould (Scotiabank), Dean Pacey (course instructor), Drew Peddie (pharmacist). Bottom row, left to right: John Meredith (MNP), Rui Su (MedMe Health), Jaspreet Chager (Pharmasave).
The judges reward the completeness of the pitch, the student’s depth of understanding and their ability to communicate their idea and respond to questions. George’s proposal was chosen from among five pitches.
Since 2010, Pharmasave’s commitment to this competition has ensured that Waterloo Pharmacy students are pushed to think beyond borders – to identify possibilities for new and emerging services that improve the health-care experience for both patients and practitioners. This competition breeds ingenuity and shapes pharmacy students to become the kind of innovative health-care providers that Ontario, and indeed all of Canada, will sorely need in the coming years.