A visit to the hospital typically ends in a doctor prescribing a particular set of medications, the details of which are printed on a physical form and handed to the patient. The patient must then take the form and submit it to a pharmacist.

Looking to overturn this traditional model, South Korea has set out to start digitizing prescription forms and make them accessible via mobile devices.

The Korea Internet & Security Agency said Tuesday that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Seoul National University Hospital and Samsung Medical Center to create and implement a new service that digitizes prescription forms.

Under the agreement, the two hospitals will deploy a new system that lets patients receive and access prescriptions via their mobile devices, offering them convenience and an organized digital database of their prescription records that can be used for future personalized medicine services, KISA said.

The system will be adopted by the two hospitals within the first half of 2018, according to the Seoul-based internet technology agency.

In addition, implementing mobile-based prescriptions will save 2 million pieces of paper per year and allow pharmacies to retain their prescription records in an organized way without physical hurdles, it added.

KISA did not state whether it would expand its prescription digitization project to additional hospitals.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)