There is a new technology on the market -- automated prescription filling machines. Two new systems, FirstFill and InstyMeds are offering doctor’s offices around the country the chance to fill prescriptions right in the waiting room.
Among the benefits touted for these systems are the facts that you eliminate the need for a trip to the pharmacy, and decrease the risk of dangerous errors. The system allows the doctor to type in the prescription and the weight of the patient, and the system automatically calculates the right dosage, eliminating that avenue of error.
The machines resemble large ATM machines; you insert your prescription, swipe your credit card and off you go with your bag of drugs. The likely applications of this machine are convenient vending machines for the insured middle-class health patient, or to decrease the work for pharmacists -- no more counting pills.
Some critics of the system say that the machines may discriminate against the poor who have no credit cards.
An interesting story I thought I would put in to illustrate a modern day paradox.
Many of you know that I am a great fan of technology. Ultimately, I believe it is technology that will ultimately facilitate the transformation of our flawed medical paradigm. Your reading this newsletter on the Internet is a classic example of the beginning of the process.
However, occasionally technology will be used for less than honorable purposes and I believe the story above is a classic illustration.
Using the drugs to treat symptoms is typically a prescription for disaster as the underlying cause is allowed to go untreated and frequently results in even more serious problems further down the road.