Hy-Vee Pharmacies Now Offer Talking Prescription Labels in 26 Languages

Hy-Vee of West Des Moines, Iowa, will now provide talking prescription labels in 26 languages to visually- and print-impaired patients at the company’s more than 275 Hy-Vee Pharmacy locations.

Beginning today, the talking prescription labels are available through Hy-Vee’s partnership with En-Vision America and are free to Hy-Vee Pharmacy patients.

“We are on a mission to make healthcare services more accessible for our patients,” said Kristin Williams, EVP and chief health officer for Hy-Vee, in a statement. “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 healthcare.”

Using En-Vision America’s ScripTalk product, Hy-Vee pharmacists are able to program and place a small electronic tag, which contains all of the prescription label information, on the prescription package, typically located on the bottom of the bottle.

By scanning the label with either a ScripTalk reader, which will be 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.

“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 En-Vision America in a statement. “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.”

In addition to English, the talking prescription labels can be translated to 25 other languages upon request. 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.

What follows is a complete list of available languages: 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 and Vietnamese.

Hy-Vee Pharmacy patients looking to enroll in ScripTalk’s talking prescription labels program should contact their local Hy-Vee Pharmacy.