CASE STUDY
Automation of drug class review
Explore how this startup saved healthcare provider millions of dollars yearly with their app.
Tech stack/tools we used: PHP, Knockout, Symfony, MySQL, PubMed, DailyMed
Client
Startup looking to simplify the creation of drug class reviews and formularies
A US-based entrepreneur contacted us with an idea to automate and speed up the work of healthcare professionals who create drug formularies: pharmacies, hospitals, manufacturers, and other formulary decision makers.
Problem
Pharmacists produce drug monographs manually
To create or update a drug formulary, healthcare professionals needed to review hundreds of information sources manually, spending countless hours on the task and increasing the likelihood of human error. Our client's idea was to create a single web portal that would provide all the necessary information for healthcare professionals to make informed decisions.
Solution
Web platform displaying summarized drug class review information
The web portal we created provides formulary decision makers with a single tool to use while creating drug class reviews and formularies for their organizations. The platform aggregates and displays up-to-date drug monographs from NIH, PubMed, and FDA, allowing healthcare professionals to quickly access the summarized information and use it for their task at hand.
For example, a pharmacy employee can search for a specific drug class like blood pressure medications. The application will display several suitable drugs, comparing them across dimensions such as price, availability, side effects, dosage, etc. The user can export this information to their report or formulary while preserving all the original references to scientific studies and other reliable sources.
Challenge #1
Integrating multiple data sources
One significant challenge was integrating data from various sources into a cohesive and user-friendly interface. Each source has its own data format and update frequency, requiring sophisticated algorithms to standardize the information. This was critical to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the drug monographs presented on the platform.
Challenge #2
Ensuring data security and compliance
Handling sensitive healthcare data necessitated stringent security measures to comply with regulations like HIPAA. Implementing encryption, access controls, and auditing mechanisms was essential to protect user data and maintain the trust of healthcare professionals using the platform.
Challenge #3
Scalability and performance optimization
As the user base grew, ensuring the platform's scalability and performance became a challenge. The system needed to handle increasing amounts of data and user requests without compromising speed or reliability. This required continuous optimization of the database, server infrastructure, and application code to maintain high performance.
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Key features
Tracking user behavior to improve the platform
The system tracks the behavior of system users: which drugs they search for, which studies they read, and what purpose they use the system for. Then, the system aggregates a report for our client to review and make data-based decisions on how to improve the platform.
Intellectual property protection
A crucial feature for organizations that use the platform was that their reports and searches were secure and unavailable to other users on the platform. By implementing encryption and access controls, we solved this problem.
Alerts for new studies
The system sent notifications to users if a new study was published related to their recent search on the platform.
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