Hy-Vee Offers Bilingual Talking Rx Labels
Available through a partnership with tech company En-Vision America, Hy-Vee Inc. is offering talking prescription labels in 26 languages for visually and print-impaired patients at the more than 275 Hy-Vee Pharmacy locations.
Using En-Vision America’s ScripTalk product, Hy-Vee pharmacists are able to program and place a small electronic tag on the 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 (provided to each patient at no cost) or the free ScripTalk mobile app, patients can have all of their information read aloud. This information includes drug name, dosage, instructions, warnings, pharmacy information, doctor’s name, prescription number, date and more. ScripTalk can assist patients with low vision, blindness, dyslexia or other reading disabilities.
In addition to English, the talking prescription labels can be translated to 25 other languages. Patients 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.
“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 Palmetto, Fla.-based 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.”
En-Vision America provides high-tech products aimed at solving problems for those with visual impairments. ScriptAbility is its suite of accessible prescription labels, including ScripTalk Talking Labels, Large Print ScriptView Labels, Dual Language ScriptView Labels, Braille Labels and Controlled Substance Safety Labels.
“We are on a mission to make health care services more accessible for our patients,” said Kristin Williams, EVP 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.”
The talking prescription labels are free to Hy-Vee Pharmacy patients. To enroll in ScripTalk’s talking prescription labels program, patients should contact their local Hy-Vee Pharmacy.
Languages available via ScripTalk talking prescription labels are as follows:
• Amharic
• Arabic
• Bengali
• Burmese
• Chinese (simplified)
• Chinese (traditional)
• English
• Farsi
• French
• German
• Greek
• Haitian Creole
• Hindi
• Italian
• Korean
• Nepali
• Pashtu
• Polish
• Portuguese
• Romanian
• Russian
• Somali
• Spanish
• Swahili
• Tagalog
• Vietnamese
CVS Pharmacy, the retail division of CVS Health, has also released its own talking prescriptions. Spoken Rx is CVS’ proprietary audio prescription label solution, developed in collaboration with the American Council of the Blind, that reads patients' prescription information aloud. The technology is now available in all of the retailer's nearly 10,000 pharmacy locations nationwide, including more than 1,700 CVS Pharmacy locations within Target.
Employee-owned Hy-Vee has a team of more than 91,000 employees and operates 285-plus retail stores across eight Midwestern states. The West Des Moines, Iowa-based company is No. 34 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. Woonsocket, R.I.-based CVS Health is No. 7 on The PG 100.
