MedRunner, a Saint John company developing an electronic prescription product, may soon pioneer  a new product to improve patient safety in the delivery of medication at hospitals, clinics and other outlets.

The company, which started  about three years ago, already has a Software-as-a-Service product in the New Brunswick market that allows doctors to order drugs for patients through computers or devices, thus improving the accuracy and recording of prescriptions. While it pushes that project forward, the company is also looking at a second product that would provide a digital record of a patient’s drug prescriptions. The new product would tell health professionals – whether they are the patient’s family doctor, specialist, or personnel at a hospital or clinic – what has been prescribed for the patient, whether the prescription was filled and/or renewed and other such information.

MedRunner’s current business model “makes some sense but the problem is that it relies on securing a critical mass of physicians”, Chief Executive Rick MacPhee, who joined the company as CEO in July, said in an interview. He added that the company wants to focus more on a “patient-safety tool” rather than a product for pharmacies or doctors. The review should be completed in the first quarter of 2013.

Under the new business model, MedRunner would likely be paid by provincial health departments or the hospitals themselves in return for the product, said MacPhee. The product would improve productivity by simplifying drug reconciliation when a new patient comes into a hospital or clinic. Drug reconciliation aims to avoid mistakes and omissions by  comparing a patient's medication orders with all of the medications that the patient has been taking. It is a cumbersome process that MacPhee believes could be simplified with the new product.

Meanwhile, MedRunner is continuing to push its e-prescription product, which has processed 15,000 prescriptions and is being used by 60 physicians and all of the pharmacy chains in New Brunswick.

“We’ve got a product in excellent shape – our users really like it,” he said. “Now what we have to do is to massively scale it.”

He said the company is talking to potential partners, such as electronic medical record vendors and drug information systems companies, about forming partnerships to get the e-prescription solution in the hands of more doctors.

“It’s not a matter of whether we have 60 or 100 physicians; it’s whether we have 1,000 or 2,000 or more physicians that matters,” said MacPhee.

Co-founded by former CEO Todd Murphy and software engineer Kevin Garnett, MedRunner raised about $300,000 in 2010 that comprised  a $100,000 investment from the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, $125,000 from members of the First Angel Network and $75,000 from private investors. Its backers include some members of East Valley Ventures.

Earlier this year, GrowthWorks Atlantic invested $250,000 in MedRunner. MacPhee said the company is not actively raising money right now.