The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan is starting a pilot to promote the adoption of electronic medication notebook applications in pharmacies across the country.

The project will involve approximately 600 customers of about 40 pharmacies in the country who will be asked to record their usage of OTC drugs, how they receive guidance from pharmacists and how they use an electronic medication notebook to check information about their medications.

Based on a press release, eight pharmacy groups will join the pilot project from October to December, including Atago Dispensing Pharmacy, Ueda Pharmacist Association, Welcia Pharmacy, Airy Pharmacy, Godai, Shiga Pharmacists Association, Sugi Pharmacy, and Minori Pharmacy. 

The electronic medication notebooks will be provided by four companies: Kusurino Madoguchi, harmo, Falmo and MedPeer.

WHY IT MATTERS

The MHLW pilot aims to promote the use of electronic medication notebooks in the country by demonstrating its benefits and how it can be effectively used by consumers, pharmacies, and other healthcare institutions. It is claimed that this technology will help reduce the risk of overlapping medications by providing easy access to information about OTC medicines.

In a separate statement, CMIC Holdings, which owns harmo, said using an electronic medicine notebook also allows pharmacies to manage information in a central platform by integrating with other health apps. 

The results of the pilot project will be used to craft a guideline for using electronic medication notebooks. The government targets to release a report about this pilot by yearend.

THE LARGER CONTEXT

The MHLW has been introducing mechanisms and features that allow consumers, pharmacies and healthcare providers to conveniently access information related to medications. This includes a feature on Mynaportal, Japan's online services portal, for checking drug information and the electronic prescription system project, which will start next year.