{"id":20277,"date":"2016-11-18T17:50:56","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T22:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/pill-popping-made-easy\/"},"modified":"2016-11-18T17:50:56","modified_gmt":"2016-11-18T22:50:56","slug":"pill-popping-made-easy","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/pill-popping-made-easy\/","title":{"rendered":"Pill Popping Made Easy"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a historic mill in New Hampshire, a giant hospital-grade robot scans prescriptions, sorts through hundreds of pills and spits out customized PillPacks to deliver right to your door. With technology like this, who would bother making the trip to the pharmacy?<\/span><\/p>\n

Video: How PillPack Works [9]<\/b><\/p>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/PtBNhNG59GU<\/a><\/p>\n

A Digital Pharmacy at Your Fingertips<\/b><\/p>\n

Over 30M Americans take five or more prescription drugs a day, and half don\u2019t even take their medication as instructed, often missing doses [4]. PillPack\u2019s business model effectively addresses this issue and many others that those who take medication face.<\/span><\/p>\n

Convenience<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Notably, PillPack redesigned the way customers take medicine by eliminating the need to carry multiple pill bottles and introducing single-use multi-drug packets. Each packet is labeled with the day and time it should be taken and contains the specific pills that the customer needs. This convention helps those that are chronically ill manage their health conditions — researchers found that by placing pills in blister packs, the percentage of patients who took their medicine increased from 61 to 97% [2].<\/span><\/p>\n

Simplicity<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

PillPack further differentiates itself through its online portal and app, expert customer service, and low pricing — all made possible by its digital infrastructure. In five minutes, customers can sign up online, providing basic pharmacy and insurance information that allows PillPack to transfer prescriptions. Patients then automatically receive pre-sorted packets biweekly, ensuring that they do not run out or have to request refills.<\/span><\/p>\n

Service<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Leveraging digital capabilities, PillPack provides attentive service that typical pharmacies do not have the bandwidth to provide. PillPack recruits licensed pharmacists to provide immediate support 24\/7. For example, if a customer wants to tweak the timing of doses or update a prescription, she can message the pharmacist through the mobile app.<\/span><\/p>\n

Remarkably, PillPack provides all of these services <\/span>free<\/span><\/i> to its customers, who are responsible for only a typical co-pay. PillPack generates its revenue through health plan reimbursements, receiving margins of nearly 20%, contributing to ~$15M in revenue last year [5].<\/span><\/p>\n

PillPack\u2019s Mobile App [6]<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\"pillphone\"<\/a> \"pillphone2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Behind PillPack\u2019s Operations<\/b><\/p>\n

Quality Assurance<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Sophisticated technology is the backbone of PillPack\u2019s work processes. Beyond sorting and distributing, PillPack uses robots for a level of quality assurance that pharmacies are unable to match with human-dependent processes. Robots scan packaged pills for size, shape and density to ensure that every packet contains the accurate pills for each dose. This extra step is crucial in giving customers peace of mind — after all, ~1.3M Americans are injured by medication distribution errors annually [8].<\/span><\/p>\n

Digital Communication<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Another core component of PillPack\u2019s operating model is its digital communication system. At all hours, customers can speak directly with a licensed pharmacist through the mobile app or webchat. Customers can even track in-app whether they are consistently taking their doses and can opt-in to receive phone alerts to take pills.<\/span><\/p>\n

Online Ordering<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Through its centralized online ordering model, PillPack better monitors and analyzes customer demand to determine which medications to purchase from wholesalers [2]. As a result, PillPack adjusts its procurement in a timely manner to keep its inventory holding costs low. At any given time, PillPack\u2019s robots are stocked with 400 high-volume medications it has identified through customer data [3]. This information system enables PillPack to better serve repeat customers who never have to face out-of-stock issues, and ultimately allows PillPack to maintain low pricing.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Future of PillPack<\/b><\/p>\n

Through technology, PillPack has made obtaining medication hassle-free, but the startup needs to evolve to offer a customer experience that leading pharmacies cannot replicate:<\/span><\/p>\n