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Pharmacy Web and Mobile App

Connecting disparate systems and building a HIPAA-compliant mobile app for managing customer prescriptions in a seamless user experience.

The Vision

Unify Bartell’s disparate web and mobile systems and provide their customers with a seamless mobile app experience for managing their prescriptions. At the time, if customers were web users, their user account would not work on mobile, and vice versa, creating complications for customers.

The Solution

Build a unified backend/admin system that supports web and mobile users. Architect a backend user management system and build crucial APIs to serve content to IOS, Android, and the web. And finally, design and build a cohesive front-end for the mobile app and website.

The Results

Bartell’s digital user base grew by 40% within the first eight months. The number of phone calls Bartell pharmacies received related to prescription status fell significantly. And financially, Bartell no longer needed three separate vendors to handle their website and RX systems.

Client Industry

Pharmacy

Platform

Web. iOS, Android

Technology
  • Node
  • Swift
  • Java

The Vision

Mission Brief: 

Bartell approached us, citing numerous obvious pain points related to being dependent on multiple vendors for a single product. The existing, disconnected web and mobile systems weren’t providing their customers with the flexibility they desired. Bartell’s pharmacy staff were spending a significant amount of time fielding calls related to prescription status updates, which kept them from other important tasks and extended customer wait times.  

These systems were costing Bartell too much money for the value they returned.

Challenges: 

This project presented unique challenges — ensuring HIPPA compliance, merging thousands of user accounts from each system, serving unified content to all systems in real-time, and providing users with up-to-the-minute status of their prescriptions — to name a few.

Why Ravenna: 

As a long-term trusted vendor at Bartell, Ravenna had worked with the Bartell marketing and IT teams for years before this project began. From supporting their marketing needs and accessibility requirements to building an urgent-care queue system that enabled customers to get in line at their local urgent care, Bartell knew Ravenna had an established, strong understanding of their business, customers, and goals.  

THE SOLUTION

Bartell had been using separate vendors for web and mobile database management. Our first step was to replace the separate existing vendor systems with a single solution.  Merging the separate databases required thoroughly reviewing each storage schema and safely mapping users’ data into a single database. 

Next, we expertly architected a complex NodeJS backend and API. The Node backend served the API for web and mobile apps, and we included a React frontend to help Bartell pharmacy back office staff with user management and troubleshooting. In addition to connecting web and mobile, we also set up the Node backend to integrate with Bartell’s pharmacy back-office system from McKesson. 

Finally, we built the customer-facing side of all of this.  The Ravenna team developed the website, located at rx.bartelldrugs.com, as well as iOS and Android mobile apps, to cater to the diverse needs of users across various devices.  

HIPAA compliance was critical, and one way this was accomplished was to ensure that all data was transient across all client-facing experiences.  This required some robust caching and backend support to maintain good data integrity. 

The website and mobile apps served as the final puzzle piece of the multi-platform solution for Bartell’s needs.

UI/UX DESIGN

We began the UI/UX process by establishing and building out complete user journeys for each existing system, and pinpointing an ideal, target journey that guided the design process. We paid close attention to HIPAA regulations and best practices for accessibility. We paired our learnings from the user journey build and our target audience research with Bartell’s deep pharmacy knowledge to create a transparent flow that enables Bartell customers to see their prescription status in real-time.

We also worked to ensure that the new system allows parents and care providers to manage prescriptions for those in their care. Customers can now request refills with a single tap or have Bartell technicians contact their doctors to request additional refills.

DEVELOPMENT

The development process for the Bartel RX system started with a discovery project. The existing McKesson enterprise pharmacy back office system leveraged an older SOAP API technology. So our solution was to build a test integration to validate our assumptions and catch any issues before starting the larger development effort. 

Once testing was complete, we began development on the Node backend system. It required dual responsibilities: talk to the McKesson backend and seamlessly serve content to all three frontend systems. Completing this application was critical to the project's overall success. 

With the Node development underway, we began building all three front-end clients. Since each client was meant to consume the same API, efficiencies were built to support the visual style. 

The final step was to we build an admin system that allowed Bartell pharmacy staff to support users who needed assistance with tasks like resetting their passwords, making adjustments for customers with others in their care, and performing general account maintenance.

THE RESULTS 

Our efforts gained a variety of successful results for our client. After launch, Bartell saw an influx of thousands of new users, a significant decrease in pharmacy phone calls, and a dependence on fewer outside vendors.

Within months of the project launch, their user base grew by more than 40%. Users found the new app easier to navigate, and the pharmacy staff had greater success in recommending Bartell’s online systems to customers. With fewer incoming phone calls, pharmacy staff were able to focus on more valuable tasks and increase overall efficiency. 

Bartell was able to discontinue multiple vendor relationships, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars being reinvested in their annual budget.
In 2020, Bartell Drugs was acquired by Rite Aid, and it continues to utilize our mobile app system to this day (Update 2025: CVS acquired some Rite Aid stores and now all Bartell locations are CVS Stores. CVS no longer uses the Bartell Pharmacy application).