High‑Accuracy Web Scanning Enhances Yakkyubin’s Digital Prescription Service

MG-DX Inc. supports the digital transformation (DX) of healthcare institutions, primarily drugstores and pharmacies. Established as a wholly-owned subsidiary of CyberAgent, Inc., the company offers the “Yakkyubin” (medicine express delivery) service, which provides mobile medication ordering and online consultations.

This service offers various patient-centric features, including online prescription submission for easy medication pickup and medication adherence follow-up. It also includes an Electronic Medication Notebook (EMN) feature for accurately managing medication records. MG-DX leverages Scandit for the 2D barcode scanning within the notebook.

“Scandit's Web SDK is high quality and easy to use, simplifying development. When we compared options for migrating from our open-source solution, our engineers determined that Scandit was the only viable choice.”

Koji Yamamoto - Development Lead, Product Development Division, MG-DX Inc.

Challenge

What is “Yakkyubin”?

Developed and serviced by MG-DX, Yakkyubin is deployed at drugstores and pharmacies that sell medications. Users of this service can simply send an image of their prescription, taken with a smartphone, in advance to reserve pickup at their preferred pharmacy or drugstore.

Additionally, the Electronic Medication Notebook allows for accurate management of prescribed medication records. This feature is also compatible with the Japan Pharmaceutical Association's “e-Kusu Link®”, enabling users to access data from other EMN apps. And, due to its useful prescription drug delivery service, the number of Yakkyubin users is growing.

Challenges with the Electronic Medication Notebook

While Yakkyubin had steadily expanded its user base since its 2020 launch, around two years later, inquiries regarding the EMN began rising at the company's customer support.

Koji Yamamoto, Development Lead at MG-DX’s Product Development Division, reflects on the nature of these inquiries:

“The Electronic Medication Notebook allows users to register prescription drug information by scanning a 2D barcode with their smartphone camera, but there were issues with the scanning accuracy.”

The problem with medical barcodes

MG-DX's development division was using an open-source library to scan 2D barcodes in the EMN. During development, they assumed that many patients who benefited from Yakkyubin would use the online service, resulting in fewer instances of 2D barcode scanning.

However, after launching the service, it became apparent that the shift to online processes was not progressing as expected and that many patients continued to rely on 2D barcode scanning. In addition, medical 2D barcodes come in many different versions, and the open‑source library had limitations in supporting them all.

To address these issues, they began considering changing the scanning software.

Solution

Exploring two scanning approaches

To improve the existing 2D barcode scanning open-source technology, the Development Division explored two approaches. One was utilizing a native app that supports smartphones, but this option presented challenges.

Yakkyubin is a cloud-based service that can be accessed via web browsers on smartphones and PCs. Adopting a smartphone‑native app for 2D barcode scanning would not only require significant changes to the cloud service - but would also compromise the core advantage and convenience of offering the service through a web browser alone.

Switching service components midway poses a significant risk. Additionally, native apps can burden smartphone users with installation and updates requirements.

Comparing services from six vendors

MG-DX then explored a second approach involving scanning methods that could integrate with web applications on a cloud service.

"We evaluated scanning products from about six vendors, and Scandit's Web SDK demonstrated overwhelmingly superior performance. It achieved scanning capabilities on par with native apps”, Mr. Yamamoto explains, regarding the reason for selecting Scandit.

Highly valued Web SDK from Scandit

The Development Division chose Scandit's Web SDK because they value its outstanding performance, high quality, and ease of integration into existing services. The engineers involved in the evaluation also strongly endorsed it.

During verification, they tested its ability to scan and accurately recognize 2D barcodes that were intentionally made difficult to read.

Even in these tests, Scandit demonstrated high scanning accuracy.

Mr. Yamamoto says, “Our engineers praised the SDK as ‘thoughtfully designed’. They noted it was easy to integrate into services and required minimal custom implementation, making development straightforward.”

Top ratings from engineers

Some 2D barcodes used in the healthcare sector, for example, have data that is split into segments. Reading such codes often requires custom programs to reconstruct the fragmented information.

Scandit's Web SDK includes a library that automatically assembles information from separate segments.

Scandit's extensive SDK support, high scanning quality, and attentive support throughout the development phases earned high praise from the engineers involved in the development.

Result

Zero scanning inquiries

Commenting on the results of adopting Scandit's Web SDK for the "Electronic Medication Notebook," Mr. Yamamoto says, "Among customer service inquiries, we have had zero troubles related to scanning 2D barcodes. The development division is also very satisfied with the results."

Scanning online and in‑store for medication guidance

Additionally, the Scandit Web SDK has been adopted for the pharmacy‑focused service AI agent “Online Medication Guidance AI Agent” provided by “Yakkubin.” Scandit is also used to scan the 2D barcodes that patients present when receiving online medication guidance while inside the pharmacy.

In terms of future initiatives, the Development Division is considering whether it is possible to digitize not only 2D barcodes, but also the letter and number information written on prescriptions, in order to improve services for patients and pharmacies.