Small electronic device reads prescription labels for patients

OMAHA, Neb. -- Not all customers at Kohll's Pharmacy read their prescription bottles to learn about their medication. Some listen to them.

Pill bottles that can communicate have hit the shelves at the family-owned pharmacy as a way to serve visually impaired customers, including the elderly.

"The customers absolutely love it. It gives the patient a sense of independence," pharmacist Marty Feltner said.

The ScripTalk talking labels system, marketed by En-Vision America Inc. of Normal, Ill., uses an electronic reading device the size of a deck of cards to read a microchip imbedded in the prescription label. A voice synthesizer in the device communicates the information on the prescription.

"You can prevent any mistakes from self-medication," Feltner said. "You know that they are getting the right thing."

ScripTalk isn't the only talking prescription device on the market. There are others, including New York-based Asko Corp.'s Aloud Audio Labeling System -- which has been marketed for more than a year and a half, about as long as Connecticut-based Millennium Compliance Corp.'s Talking Rx device.

The products range in price from about $15 for each Talking Rx device, to $175 for ScripTalk's electronic reader.

Product sales have been slow, with reports only in the thousands for both Aloud and Talking Rx. ScripTalk, which was first made available earlier this month at the Omaha pharmacy, sold a half-dozen in its first two weeks of retail sales.

"The individuals that need this product do not have the necessary means to pay for something like this," said John Dobbins, Talking Rx inventor. "They are already shelling out hundreds of dollars a month for their medication."

Insurance companies should cover the products because with increased adherence to medication they'll see decreased costs, with fewer emergency room visits because of adverse drug effects, he said.

With an aging population that's growing, and more than 10 million visually impaired people in the United States, talking labels are something the medical community has been asking for to prevent dangerous mistakes.

An inability to read pill bottles can lead to taking the wrong pill at the wrong time or at the wrong dose; missing warnings to refrain from drinking alcohol, staying out of the sun or taking various over-the-counter drugs with the prescription; or even knowing when to call a doctor about side effects.