Cardinal Health’s Outcomes acquires smart prescription platform ScalaMed
Cardinal Health has acquired ScalaMed, a HIPAA-compliant, smart platform that transfers prescriptions directly to patients via a secure mobile app. The acquisition transfers ScalaMed’s technology and assets to Outcomes, a Cardinal Health company.
ScalaMed pivots prescription management from provider to patient, allowing patients to send prescriptions written by their provider directly to any pharmacy for the first fill.
The platform offers patients greater flexibility, easier access and price comparison to select the pharmacy of their choice.
For providers, the platform eliminates the administrative work of transferring prescriptions, saving the average clinician 40 hours per year, and helps improve health outcomes with improved adherence and increased patient satisfaction, Cardinal Health said.
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Scalamed’s technology will be offered through the Cardinal Health nationwide pharmacy network, creating unprecedented opportunities for digital connectivity to millions of patients.
“As health care continues to evolve toward patient preferences, the acquisition of ScalaMed allows us to center our connected ecosystem around the patient from the outset of their treatment journey — from the doctor’s office to the pharmacy to home,” said Brent Stutz, senior vice president/general manager of Outcomes. “Using ScalaMed’s technology, we can better support patients at every step along their treatment journey through unified communication and more informed insights that will help remove access and adherence barriers.”
ScalaMed worked to develop a digital solution that empowered patients and personalized their care, taking into account the real-world challenges of daily life that often lead to medication nonadherence, the company said.
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“The process of digitizing prescriptions removes the patient from the equation and overlooks the complexity of the real-life adherence challenges patients face — forgetting medication on vacation, not having a pharmacy with convenient hours nearby, the variables are endless,” said Tal Rapke, CEO and founder of ScalaMed.
“We’re excited to partner with a leader in pharmacy like Cardinal Health, so that together, we can offer a solution that is both smart and patient-centric,” Rapke said. “With the scale and innovation Cardinal Health offers, we can revolutionize how prescriptions are filled and help solve the massive, costly challenge of medication nonadherence.”