Hy-Vee offers pharmacy customers free talking prescription labels
A regional Midwest grocery/convenience chain is making talking prescription labels available in 26 languages to visually- and print-impaired customers.
Hy-Vee Inc. is offering the labels at its more than 275 Hy-Vee Pharmacy locations. The talking prescription labels are available through a partnership with En-Vision America, a company providing high-tech products aimed at solving problems for those with visual impairments, and are free to Hy-Vee Pharmacy customers.
Using En-Vision America’s ScripTalk talking label solution, Hy-Vee pharmacists are able to program and place a small electronic tag on a prescription package, typically located on the bottom of the bottle. The tag contains all of the prescription label information.
By scanning the label with either a ScripTalk reader, which is provided to each participating customer at no cost, or the free ScripTalk mobile app, shoppers can have all of their information read aloud. This information includes drug name, dosage, instructions, warnings, pharmacy information, doctor’s name, prescription number, and date.
ScripTalk is designed to assist customers with low vision, blindness, dyslexia, or other reading disabilities. Customers can enroll in the talking labels program at their local Hy-Vee pharmacy store.
In addition to English, the talking prescription labels can be translated to 25 other languages upon request. Customers who request this option will receive large-print dual-language prescription labels that feature a high contrast font in English, as well as a translation from one of the 25 other languages. These labels can also be read aloud in the selected language via the free ScripTalk reader or free ScripTalk mobile app. View the complete list of available languages here.
Hy-Vee is launching its talking labels offering on the heels of a similar program recently introduced by CVS. The drugstore giant is making a feature called “Spoken Rx,” which it developed in collaboration with the American Council of the Blind, available at its nearly 10,000 pharmacy locations nationwide, including the more than 1,700 CVS Pharmacy locations within Target.
Designed for customers with visual impairments and who cannot read standard print labels, Spoken Rx allows customers to have their prescription information read aloud. It is available at no extra cost to shoppers.
“We are on a mission to make health care services more accessible for our patients,” said Kristin Williams, executive VP and chief health officer for Hy-Vee. “Through our partnership with En-Vision America, we now offer a solution to help improve the health outcomes for our visually- and print-impaired patients, along with our non-English speaking patients who often face language barriers to health care.”
“At En-Vision America, patient safety is paramount. For individuals who have trouble reading their prescription labels, the dangers of mistakes and hospitalizations are real,” said David Raistrick, president of En-Vision America. “We’re very excited to partner with Hy-Vee — a company that recognizes the need to bolster medication safety and independence for patients with print impairments or speak English as a second language.”
Headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa, Hy-Vee Inc. is an employee-owned corporation operating more than 280 retail stores across eight Midwestern states – Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.