Transforming Medication Use Workflows With AI
MeDS builds data science pipelines that impact electronic prescribing, medication dispensing, insurance auditing, and medication therapy management — turning real-world medication data into clinical, safety and financial performance.
The Challenge
Getting Patients the Right Medications is Complex — and the Stakes Are High
Community pharmacies fill over 2 billion electronic prescriptions every year, yet the tools supporting that work have not kept pace. Fragmented data, inefficient systems, manual processes, and rising operational demands create real consequences — for patients, pharmacists, and healthcare businesses alike.
Pharmacist Productivity
Pharmacists and technicians process hundreds of prescriptions daily under intense time pressure. Repetitive manual tasks crowd out the high-value clinical work only a pharmacist can do.
Source: Whitaker, Lester & Rowell, J. Patient Safety, 2024
Clinical Care Quality
High-risk patients can go unidentified. Medication treatment is sub-optimal. Medication errors can go undetected. Without better data tools, pharmacists lack the visibility to consistently intervene where it matters most.
Source: Gong et al., BMJ Health and Care Informatics, 2025
Financial & Liability Risk
Malpractice claims average $136,000, audit vulnerabilities go undetected, and missed clinical care opportunities quietly erode margins. Poor data quality has a direct cost to pharmacy operations.
Source: HPSO Pharmacist Liability Claim Report, 3rd Edition
"Prescription errors remain that could be prevented with additional support at the data entry step of e-prescriptions. There is a need to identify potential tools to support data entry and prevent medication errors.
Our Platform
Turning Medication Data into Safer, Smarter Care
MeDS builds AI and data pipelines across the full medication use lifecycle. Our platform is designed to deliver impact across four dimensions that matter most to pharmacies, health systems, and the patients they serve.
Medication Safety
Catch errors before they reach patients — automatically and continuously.
Clinical Optimization
Surface high-risk patients and support better therapeutic decisions at scale.
Financial Improvements
Reduce audit risk, liability exposure, and revenue leakage across the dispensing workflow.
Pharmacist Productivity
Automate routine checks so pharmacists can focus on high-value clinical work.
How We Deliver It
Four Critical Pillars of Medication Workflow Intelligence
E-Rx Verification
Electronic Prescribing
AI-powered verification of medication data entry ensures that what's prescribed matches what's dispensed — catching ingredient, strength, and dosage form mismatches before they reach the patient.
- Real-time NDC & RxNorm cross-referencing
- Automated clinically-significant mismatch alerts
- Pharmacist workflow integration
- Schedule II controlled substance safeguards
Dispensing efficiency & Analytics
Medication Dispensing
Data pipelines that monitor dispensing patterns, identify workflow inefficiencies, and surface performance analytics — helping pharmacies operate safely at scale while reducing risk exposure.
- Dispensing pattern analysis
- Workflow efficiency metrics
- Error trend identification
- Performance benchmarking
Claims Defense & Audit Support
Insurance & PBM Auditing
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) audits can claw back significant revenue from pharmacies. Our AI models detect audit risk patterns before they become costly recoupments.
- PBM audit risk scoring
- Claims compliance monitoring
- Recoupment prevention analytics
- Audit trail documentation
Clinical Outcomes Optimization
Medication Therapy Management
AI tools that help pharmacists identify high-risk patients, optimize medication regimens, and document clinical interventions — designed to scale the reach and impact of pharmacist-led care across patient populations.
- High-risk patient identification
- Medication adherence monitoring
- Clinical intervention documentation
- Scalable population-level outreach
Improve Patient Safety
Catch dispensing errors before they reach patients with automated, AI-driven verification.
Boost Productivity
Streamline data entry workflows and reduce the cognitive burden on pharmacy staff.
Enhance Clinical Care
Surface actionable clinical insights that support better patient outcomes.
Increase Financial Returns
Protect revenue through audit defense, error prevention, and optimized billing.
Flagship Product
SAV E-Rx
System Approach to Verifying Electronic Prescriptions
An AHRQ-funded, peer-reviewed AI tool that verifies medication product selection in outpatient pharmacies — automatically detecting when the medication dispensed doesn't match what was prescribed.
How SAV E-Rx Works
Data Stream Setup
Pharmacies connect their pharmacy management system through a secure, standardized data export. The setup process takes minutes and doesn't need IT involvement.
Automated Comparison
SAV E-Rx uses a proprietary data processing pipeline to compare the ingredient, strength, and dosage form of every e-prescription against the medication dispensed — automatically flagging any discrepancy.
Pharmacist Customization
Pharmacies configure therapeutic equivalents they routinely accept — for example, allowing an oral tablet to substitute for an oral capsule — so alerts focus only on clinically meaningful mismatches.
Alert & Review
When SAV E-Rx detects a clinically significant mismatch, it sends an email notification to pharmacy staff for review — catching errors that would otherwise go unnoticed.
Peer-Reviewed Results
Published in BMJ Health & Care Informatics
Gong, Marshall, Whitaker, Rowell, Dorsch, Bagian & Lester · 2025
Key Finding: Of the 662 flagged mismatches, 75 (11.3%) were classified as unintended errors — primarily due to human factors and workflow challenges including high prescription volumes and manual overrides. 82.7% were attributed to human error. SAV E-Rx served as an independent, automated safety net, catching post-dispensing errors that would otherwise go unnoticed.
Already a customer? Access your pharmacy portal to view alerts and analytics.
Access Pharmacy PortalEvidence & Research
Built on Rigorous Science
Our technology isn't just innovative — it's evidence-based. Every MeDS solution is grounded in peer-reviewed research and real-world pharmacy data.
Enhancing medication safety with System Approach to Verifying Electronic Prescriptions (SAV E-Rx): pharmacists' review of product selection outcomes between prescribed and dispensed medications
Gong J, Marshall VD, Whitaker M, Rowell B, Dorsch MP, Bagian JP, Lester CA
A retrospective analysis of 1,250,804 records from 14 community pharmacies across 9 US states. SAV E-Rx screened data and identified 662 flagged mismatches; 75 (11.3%) were classified as unintended errors, primarily stemming from human factors. Demonstrates SAV E-Rx as an effective, automated safety net.
PMC: PMC12458867
Handing off electronic prescription data from prescribers to community pharmacies: A qualitative analysis of pharmacy staff perspectives
Whitaker M, Lester C, Rowell B
Semi-structured interviews with 15 community pharmacy staff revealed that data entry is predominantly a human-reliant process with significant error risk at the product selection stage. Identified the critical need for automated tools to support e-prescription data entry.
PMC: PMC11335435
Recognized by the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality
MeDS' SAV E-Rx technology was featured in AHRQ's official e-newsletter, recognizing its contribution to patient safety research and the development of innovative solutions for community pharmacy medication safety challenges.
About MeDS
University Expertise.
Startup Speed.
Medication Data Science, Inc. (MeDS) was founded by a team of University of Michigan researchers who spent years studying the operational challenges that community pharmacies face — and then built the technology to improve them.
We are a University of Michigan spin-out company backed by U-M Innovation Partnerships' Accelerate Blue program. Our mission: make medication use better for every patient, in every community.
Our Mission
To optimize medication use in community pharmacies by building AI-powered tools grounded in evidence and human-centered design.
Our Approach
We combine pharmacy informatics, clinical expertise, human factors engineering, and machine learning to build solutions that integrate seamlessly into real-world pharmacy workflows.
Our Vision
A future where every patient receives the right medication — where AI and data science serve as a constant, silent safety partner for every pharmacist, in every community.
Leadership Team
Jonathan Dengel, MBA
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Jon has led healthcare data products for over a decade, building tools that help clinicians and analysts trust the numbers behind critical decisions.
Dr. Corey Lester, PhD, PharmD
Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer
A practicing pharmacist and medication safety scientist, Corey ensures our products impact real-world workflows and clinical rigor.
Megan Whitaker, MHI
Vice President of Product Innovation
Megan leads our data platform and engineering practices, focusing on reliability, interoperability, and secure handling of sensitive health data.
Advisors
Jim Arthurs
Mentor-in-Residence
A seasoned health tech entrepreneur providing critical guidance in our start-up journey through the University of Michigan's Innovation Partnerships.
Tina Suntres, MBA
Advisor
Tina is associate director for software licensing at University of Michigan and provides valuable feedback on our start-up journey.
Proud start-up from the University of Michigan
Get in Touch
Partner with MeDS
Whether you're a pharmacy owner, health system leader, insurance company, PBM, or researcher — we want to hear from you.
Pharmacy Owners & Operators
Pilot SAV E-Rx in your pharmacy. We work directly with independent and small chain pharmacies.
Health Systems & PBMs
Scale optimal medication use across your network. Enterprise partnerships available.
Researchers & Academic Partners
Collaborate on studies, data access, or joint grant applications.
Investors
We're building the infrastructure for pharmacy safety. Let's talk.
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