Pharmacy Technology

MONTEREY, Calif. — A new website for young people with acne allows them to receive online dermatology consultations and receive prescriptions.

YoDerm charges $59 for a three-step plan. Users upload photos of their affected areas and answer several medical questions, a process that typically takes less than 10 minutes. Within 48 hours, a dermatologist examines the photos and information and creates a personalized treatment plan. After that, a treatment plan is delivered and, if included, a prescription is sent electronically to the user's preferred local pharmacy.

MIAMI — A new program in south Florida will provide health care for children in underserved communities using mobile telemedicine.

The Children's Health Fund and Verizon Foundation announced the launch of the first "telemedicine clinics on wheels," connecting children to specialists at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Fifteen of the mobile clinics will be equipped with the latest health information technology from the Verizon Foundation.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Prior-authorization software company CoverMyMeds reached a milestone Tuesday as the 5 millionth PA request was sent through its system.

CoverMyMeds said the announcement came a day after the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs published the first e-prescribing standard to include the electronic PA implementation guide. CoverMyMeds has worked with the industry to develop the standard and said it was the first provider software vendor to use the standard at scale.

The aging population, financial stress and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has forced the entire medical delivery system into a game of musical chairs.  The music has started, and each component of the healthcare delivery system is aggressively looking to have a chair.

HAIFA, Israel — Self-reported medication adherence rates increased among Type 2 diabetes patients using a mobile app, the maker of the app said Monday.

MediSafe Project said it reviewed adherence rates among Type 2 diabetic users of its app, finding compliance rates at least 26% higher than the generate rate for long-term diabetes therapies, which the World Health Organization reports as 50%. A January 2013 study of the app, which the company launched in November 2012, found similar rates.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A developer of revenue and payment cycle management and clinical information exchange software is expanding its payment network.

Emdeon announced Friday that it would expand the capabilities of the Emdeon Payment Network, a large, automated payment distribution system for the healthcare industry. The expansion includes the recent opening of a new 100,000-sq.-ft. facility in St. Louis dedicated to supporting the network, which currently reaches about 60,000 pharmacies, 500,000 providers, 81,000 dentists, 1,200 hospitals and 300 labs.

Whole generations of Americans have no memory of a time when doctors routinely made house calls. But with the rapid acceleration of telehealth and telepharmacy technologies — and their increasing use by physicians and pharmacy providers — the virtual house call is bringing remotely delivered health services to thousands of patients where they live, work and shop.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A system for confidentially storing patients' biometric data on a card made by PharmaSmart International has been added to several national drug databases, which the company said would aid support for hypertension patients among healthcare providers, health plans and pharmacists.

PharmaSmart, based in Rochester, N.Y., said its Smart Card product had been named as conforming to NCPDP's billing unit standard.