Orchestral launches real-time AI pharmacy check to curb deadly medication errors in U.S
AI Orchestration tackles $42 billion global error rate by supporting clinicians
Orchestral has introduced a new AI-driven medication safety tool available for U.S. pharmacy workflows, to support clinicians to identify prescription errors in real time and prevent thousands of deadly medication mistakes each year.
The launch comes as U.S. pharmacies face mounting pressure to improve patient safety amid high error rates.
Medication errors remain a major cause of preventable harm in the US. The World Health Organisation states between 7,000 and 9,000 Americans die each year due to medication errors, with more than a million patients experiencing medication related harm annually[1]. The financial cost of prescription errors globally is estimated to run at US $42 billion each year[2].
Orchestral for Medication Safety sits within existing pharmacy dispensing systems and operates automatically in the background. Prescriptions are checked against clinical guidelines and patient medication histories, with relevant alerts surfaced at the point of prescribing and dispensing. Lucy Porter, Chief Executive of Orchestral, said pharmacists are being asked to manage an unsustainable level of clinical risk within increasingly pressured dispensing environments.
“Pharmacists are expected to verify every prescription under significant time pressure, while mentally accounting for thousands of medications, interactions, dosing rules and patient‑specific risks,” Porter said.
“That is not a people problem, it is a systems problem. Orchestral for Medication Safety is designed to act as a safety net by checking every prescription, every interaction and every risk directly inside the pharmacist’s existing workflow. This supports pharmacists’ clinical judgement in real time.”
Research indicates that more than half of medication errors globally originate at the prescribing stage, including incorrect drug selection, unsafe doses and overlooked interactions[3]. Even with multiple safety steps in place, these errors can cascade through the system and reach patients.
The product is delivered through the Orchestral platform, the world’s first health AI orchestrator. The platform is designed to connect fragmented healthcare data sources and translate them into clinically relevant, explainable insights that can be acted on in real time.
“No clinician or pharmacist can realistically connect all available patient data, medication rules and emerging clinical evidence with the tools they have today.
“More data is not the answer, better insight is. Our focus is on orchestration, taking scattered data and turning it into trusted, actionable insight at the exact moment it’s required.”
Medication Safety is the first in a planned set of clinical safety workflows Orchestral is developing for pharmacy and primary care, with the aim of reducing preventable harm without adding complexity or burden to frontline clinicians.