The IU Health Center is set to debut a new, free prescription delivery service for students, followed by the release of an original free app.
Nearly four weeks ago, the IU Health Center began introducing its delivery service to Ashton, McNutt and Briscoe residence centers, said Pete Grogg, executive director of the IU Health Center.
Grogg said he hopes to expand the delivery service to the rest of campus this week.
“We’ve been trying to make sure that our processes were working and that we were getting the information about it being delivered and picked up and so forth,” he said.
The process is simple, Grogg said.
Students transfer their prescriptions online or on the phone, fill out consent forms and then pick up their packages.
“The feedback was very good for the first delivery,” said Tamir Hussain, IU Health Center associate director. “It was a seamless process. The student basically went to the mailroom, swiped their card and picked up their package, just like they would pick up anything else.”
Because of the unique barcodes on the packages, the health center receives direct feedback from the mailroom, Hussain said.
“We know when the package was delivered, when they received it and when the student actually picked it up,” he said. “Even how many times the student was sent an email reminder.”
Kelley School of Business student Lucy Valencia brought the idea for a delivery service to the IU Health Center, Grogg said.
“It was a class project for her,” he said. “She was exploring the idea of a delivery service on campus. So she brought us the idea and some preliminary data as far as student interest.”
Valencia said, as a freshman, she would have to beg a friend with a car to drive her to CVS to pick up her prescription every month.
“When I came up with the idea for a pharmacy delivery service, I saw it as providing not just a convenience to students but a peace of mind,” she said. “Delivery services are so prevalent on campus, and I thought prescription medications are absolutely something that should be prioritized and made ?simpler.”
Because student interest was high, Grogg said, he hoped a delivery service would encourage students to fill their prescriptions at the IU Health Center, rather than at CVS, Kroger or Walmart, where they might have elected to go ?previously.
“Getting a delivery service really makes it much more convenient,” he said. “We’re trying to attract some of that business back, to get that business (to the health center), to get that money coming back into the health center.”
The more money coming back into the IU Health Center, Grogg said, the lower student health and service fees.
Following the introduction of the delivery service, IU Health Center will follow up with the launch of its app, Hussain said.
The app will be compatible with Apple and Android devices, allowing it to reach more students, ?he said.
Hussain said he hopes to release the app following Thanksgiving or winter break.
With the app, students will be able to refill prescription, set up deliveries, set up reminders to take or refill medication, check prices and pay online, Grogg said.
“So it’s going to be very helpful in ensuring that people get their refills but then also comply with their prescription,” he said.
Having been brought up on such technology, the student population represents the ideal population for a pharmacy app, Grogg said.
“It offered an opportunity for us to create something that we knew would be used,” Grogg said. “Our patient population wouldn’t have any trouble learning to use it or wanting to use it. It’s an additional level of service that we can provide that maybe they can’t get elsewhere.”
