Abstract

Pharmacies have the legal mandate to ensure the population's access to medication. This concerns every individual pharmacy, but also the nationwide distribution of all pharmacies throughout Germany. In addition to the provision of ready-made drugs, pharmacies also fulfill public duties such as night and emergency services or the preparation of prescriptions.

The trend is increasingly moving towards fewer local pharmacies. Thus, in 2020, the number of pharmacies was lower than it was in the 1980s for the first time. Reasons for this include the competitiveness of pharmacies with each other, but also the growing number of online pharmacies. On the other hand, there are the conditions under which a pharmacy has to operate, such as the bureaucratic effort.

In recent years, the pharmaceutical industry in Germany has changed and become more digital. At first, pharmacies could order their drugs, but now there is digital management of stock levels, digital patient records and medication plans.
Yet, in comparison to other countries, such as Finland or Norway, Germany lags behind in the digitalization of the pharmaceutical industry.

Status Quo

In 2022, another part of the pharmaceutical industry is to be digitized. The current paper prescription will be supplemented by the upcoming electronic prescription. The "gematik GmbH" has been commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Health to develop the technical components of the so-called e-prescription.
Currently, patients receive drugs or services from their specialists by paper prescription, which they can then redeem at the appropriate location. For this, the voucher must be presented in paper format.

Ideation

During the ideation phase, ideas were generated for phases 1-3, based on the respective formulation of question zero. This addresses the identified problems from the literature research, as well as the conducted interviews. The crazy 8 method was first used to generate as many ideas as possible. Subsequently, the ideas were prioritized, which have the greatest potential to solve the problems and were used as a basis for further development.

Conception & Development

The project concept was designed over 3 phases, whose scope of action extends from 2024 to 2030. While the first phase is about educating and training pharmacists and patients about digitalization, the second phase should significantly expand and digitalize the pharmacy's delivery service to be competitive with online pharmacies. However, the focus is clearly on the third phase, which is supposed to make the presence pharmacies mobile starting in 2028. This speculative approach is supposed to take the pharmacy to the streets and thus bring it closer to the patients, to be even faster and more flexible and to reach the patients of the future where they really need it.

Phase 1starts shortly after the introduction of the e-prescription. It is the basis for the following two phases and serves both pharmacies and patients for preparation. During the two-year period, the e-teaching program will be established nationwide in pharmacies, so that all patients will be on the same digital level at the beginning of phase 2.

Phase 2 begins in 2025. The pharmacies that have already completed the first phase at this time will now start expanding the courier service. Furthermore, the next expansion stage of the digital patient record will be integrated into the sana app.
From now on, customers save themselves from having to go between the stakeholders through an expanded delivery network.

Phase 3 begins at the beginning of 2028. From now on, the pharmacy or the doctor comes to one's home. Presence pharmacies are no longer location-bound and can thus expand their customer base.
The doctor's visit is accompanied by a specialist. The majority is taken over by the patient him/herself in the case of self-diagnosis.

Final Design

To contact the doctor / pharmacist, inquire about the position of the respective hub or order the doctor / pharmacist home, there is an application. The doctor / pharmacy hubs are networked with the patients. Prescriptions can be submitted digitally and managed via the digital page of the pharmacy or exchanged for drugs.

The mobile pharmacy is adapted to the needs of the patients. The interior in addition to a counter for pharmacists offers a selection of over-the-counter medication and related products. The pharmacist on site is available for consultation and service and is with the pharmacy hub mobile.

The interior of the doctor's office is designed for patients with acute, moderate complaints. The office offers a "self-diagnosis capsule" in which the patient can quickly diagnose himself, accompanied by a medical professional. Alternatively, there is the option of adding a specialist via a video interface.

Using these solutions, Sana should be able to secure the provision of medicinal products in the future, as well as make pharmacies of the future stronger against competing products.