Balance Rewards Challenge: Healthy Results for the Healthy API
Photo Hack Day NYC: Awesome Photo Hacks in December
The Walgreens API team is very excited to be involved again with Photo Hack Day and will be heading to the city that never sleeps (NYC) for Photo Hack Day 6 to take place at Aviary’s headquarters on December 6-7, 2014.
This event offers a really great opportunity to work alongside our Walgreens Developer Evangelist to create a magical QuickPrints integration. We have been involved with past Photo Hack Days at Dropbox (2012) and Facebook (2013) and have always had a great experience with the many photo partners we meet and foster at theses events!
We look forward to some awesome innovative ideas from this event, which you can learn more about at http://photohackday.org.
Medication Management Hackathon 2014: Congrats Pillable
Well, needless to say going up to the bitter north in Minnesota to judge pill reminders and adherence apps may not be everyones most exciting weekend event, but we must exclaim how blown away we were with the whole event! Not only did we get the beautiful fall weather that exists very rarely we got some really amazing ideas and apps created. The host, Treehouse Health was not only in a wonderful location, but provided exemplarily staff and facilities for the event. Thanks a lot JD and Treehouse Health! We had a extremely verbose group that ranged from python developers all the way to nurse practitioners and paramedics. So when it came to the 3rd day of the event we got pretty excited about the results and presentations that people gave. We were looking to give a $1000 prize to the app that best integrated the Walgreens Prescription Refill / Transfer API or Balance Rewards API.
@That_Drew_Guy & @danielrasmuson after the announcement of the awesome #HackMedMgmt @WalgreensAPI integration winner! pic.twitter.com/9uHVMRFF0z
— Drew Schweinfurth (@That_Drew_Guy) October 30, 2014
After an extended deliberation time we came to the conclusion that the Pillable was the obvious winner based on the creative design, development environment, and usage of both the APIs. The app was built to help a user review their pills and talk about the experiences that they go through when taking their prescription. The app also allowed for vitals to be recorded in the review process then connecting to Walgreens by sending (weight, blood pressure, blood glucose) and prescriptions refills / transfers.
"The Medication Management Hackathon sponsored by Walgreens was a memorable experience for me. The community, volunteers, and local businesses all came together to think big for a weekend. I had the privilege of talking with awesome people, learning a ton, and winning the walgreens API challenge. Hurray! It was really cool to see people give up their weekend for a cause that matters." - Daniel Rasmuson, Developer and Dreamer of Pillable.
We look forward to working with the developer behind the Pillable app over the coming weeks to help him launch the application in production and claim not only our $1,000 prize, but also the number of Walgreens users who would like to manage their medications to stay happy and healthy! We were very impressed with all the other groups' presentations as well and we look forward to helping them release their ideas into the internets. If you missed the event this year you are more than welcome to shoot a message to our developer evangelist Drew Schweinfurth and he can answer any questions about the event, our apis, or any upcoming events we are planning.
Search Twitter for #HackMedMgmt to see the all the glorious tweets.
Walgreens Announces Developer Contest to Support Balance Rewards API
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Integration of Balance Rewards API rewards users for healthy choices
Walgreens is conducting a developer contest to encourage integration of its Balance® Rewards API, which allows users of other apps to earn Balance Rewards loyalty program points for making healthy choices. Rewards points can be redeemed for merchandise in-store or online. From now through November 28, third-party app developers can access contest details and submit an integrated app entry by visiting the Balance Rewards App Challenge page. Winners will be announced during the Walgreens session at the upcoming mHealth Summit 2014 in Washington D.C., December 7-11. Categories, awards and selection criteria are as follows:
“Through our API developer program, we’re able to extend our loyalty program into the digital ecosystem, ultimately reaching more consumers and rewarding them for their healthy activities,” said Abhi Dhar, group vice president and chief technology officer, Digital, at Walgreens. “By developing more API offerings, we’re continuing to invest in developer relationships and see the value they deliver.” In 2012, Walgreens launched its QuickPrints API, which enabled photo apps to provide users with the convenience of sending photos directly to Walgreens for printing. At that time, less than 1 percent of the company’s digital print business came from mobile. Today, 40 percent comes from mobile with more than 125 third-party photo app integrations. The following year, the Prescription API was launched and allowed for seamless prescription refill and transfer capabilities for users of third-party apps. Most recently, Walgreens has launched its Balance Rewards API to extend the company’s Balance Rewards for healthy choices™ program – the first loyalty program to offer consumers rewards for healthy choices. Popular fitness devices and apps such as GenieMD, HoMedics, LifeTrak, Lose It!, Misfit, Nudge, Omron Fitness and RunKeeper have integrated the Balance Rewards API allowing users to automatically earn points for healthy activities like walking, running and biking. |
Heartland Mobile Council MobiU 2014 (09.17.14)
Presentation by Joe Rago (Sr. Product Manager) at the Heartland Mobile Council MobiU Conference on "Extending Happy & Healthy" in Chicago, IL on Wednesday September 17, 2014.