LSUS students aiming to fundamentally change prescription medication process with new app

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LSUS students aiming to fundamentally change prescription medication process with new app

SHREVEPORT - LSU Shreveport business graduate student Kurtis Alton had the idea.

Rx Connect, a medical app powered by artificial intelligence, could help patients navigate the prescription medication system while demolishing communication barriers between doctors, pharmacies and insurance companies.

What Alton didn't have when he presented his incredibly complex idea at LSUS's student entrepreneurship competition this past November was simplistic messaging or the technical know-how to bring that idea to life.

His project made it to the LSUS Pilot Pitch finals but didn't place.

Enter LSUS computer science graduate student Jyotish Batra.

Batra, who also entered Pilot Pitch but didn't reach the finals, brought technical expertise like app building, software and hardware integration, and AI knowledge.

Alton and Batra tinkered with the platform and the messaging throughout multiple spring competitions, culminating in a first-place showing at the Pelican Cup hosted by the University of Louisiana Monroe in late March.

The pair won $50,000 for winning the graduate division.

"We refined our presentation and our messaging," Alton said after Pilot Pitch, which is organized by the LSUS College of Business. "The overall app encompasses way more than just prescription medicine navigation, but I learned from Pilot Pitch that that's very, very, difficult to try and solve so many problems while communicating that effectively.

"The feedback I got from the judges and from (LSUS Pilot Pitch advisor Dr. Michael McDaniel) is that this is way too much information when healthcare is already extremely complicated."

Along with a more narrow idea of prescription medicine navigation, Alton said two other aspects really brought the Pelican Cup presentation into focus.

An app demo and a story.

Batra headed the construction of a demo app to better illustrate the idea.

"When we were semifinalists in the Governor's Cup (in Arkansas), we still felt like the concept was too complicated for judges to understand, so I came up with an idea to show them a demo," Batra said. "I wanted to show from start to finish what a patient sees and what the provider sees, walking through the whole process until a patient gets medication in their hands.

"Now judges could grasp what we're talking about and why we're doing it."

Now the story.

Alton's brother-in-law is a pharmacist, and he borrowed a real-life example of how complications and delays in obtaining prescription medicine can cost lives.

"More than 97 million prescription medications don't get picked up every year in the United States, and more than that, some patients don't go to follow-up doctor's appointments because they didn't take the medication," said Alton, who graduated with his MBA degree in September. "We told the story of a real patient who passed away (three years) ago.

"What would have happened if this person was able to use the app to streamline this process instead of walking away? We're not claiming that he'd be alive today, but the complexity of the prescription medication system definitely doesn't help."

Dr. Michael McDaniel, an assistant professor of management in the LSUS College of Business and organizer of the Pilot Pitch competition, said the pair better defined their target audience for the app.

"The judges at the Governor's Cup questioned the cost of marketing directly to consumers (patients), so the pitch changed to more of a B2B marketing approach to insurance companies and doctors," McDaniel said. "Getting a functional sample of the app so judges could see a demo in real time was crucial as well."

BIRTH OF AN IDEA

Through Alton's years of working in pharmaceutical sales and data analysis, he intimately knew the problems.

The process of prescribing, filling, and receiving prescription medication is laced with obstacles, complex insurance formularies and prior authorizations.

Patients are prescribed medication at a doctor's visit, wait in line at the pharmacy only to discover that there's an insurance coverage problem or in pharmaceutical inventory. Or a host of other issues that can be as simple as an incorrect form.

The patient can either cough up big bucks to secure their medicine, if it's available at all, or start a nightmarish game of telephone in which the patient tries to get the doctor, pharmacy and insurance company all on the same page.

Frustrations mount as reasons for the delay differ whether a patient is speaking with the doctor, the pharmacist, or the insurance company.

Alton said his app can alleviate those problems, detailing the reason for the delay and communicating to all four stakeholders.

"The way the system is set up, providers, pharmacies and insurance companies are completely isolated from each other - and the patient has zero visibility of the entire process," said Alton, who added his wife and partner Wendy contributed greatly with her experience in similar fields. "Maybe a provider can see there's an issue, but there's no detail on what that issue is.

"Our app will alert the appropriate user what is needed on a platform where all parties can see what's happening."

Alton said it's a problem that's "filled his head" for years, but he didn't know how to start solving it until he took Dr. Mahdi Bajestani's entrepreneurship class as an elective in the MBA program in the summer of 2025.

"There was a group project, and I thought that this is my opportunity to do something with this idea," said Alton, who added that he registered for the class only because his desired elective was full. "We do the project, and then I saw an email about the Pilot Pitch competition, and I haven't been this excited about something in a long time.

"I got emotional when I made the finals, and I flew from my home in New Jersey to present in person because that's how important this was to me."

Alton sharpened his idea through a series of Pilot Pitch workshops before the competition.

Although he didn't place, encouragement from McDaniel and a chance introduction to Batra laid the groundwork for what would take place the following spring.

THE TECH CONNECTION

Mike McDaniel sent a simple email saying that Alton and Batra, two Pilot Pitch competitors who had never met, should connect.

"Kurtis had a great idea, but he had no clue how to make it become a reality from a technical standpoint," McDaniel said. "I knew that Jyotish had the technical expertise that Kurt needed, but I didn't want to force anything.

"We've been seeking and encouraging non-business students to compete in Pilot Pitch for a couple of years now, and this is a great example of why."

Batra, a student from India who got a crash-course education on the American healthcare system from his uncle (LSU Health Shreveport cancer researcher) and sister (works at an insurance company), quickly saw the idea's potential.

"I think it's fate that I met Kurtis," said Batra, who built a medical scheduler app as his Pilot Pitch entry. "Even though the project is more business-related, he needed some technical ideas of building out what he envisioned.

"We dove into areas like how companies store data and how we can improve on the entire process."

Alton said he "can't quantify" Batra's impact.

"It never crossed my mind to find another student, but we connected well with each other," Alton said. "He was the lightbulb that made me turn things around after the Governor's Cup.

"He saw something I didn't see and was bold enough to question it. We have the type of relationship where we can challenge each other."

That specific challenge dealt with the business plan, which initially showed the startup turning a profit in the first year - extremely rare.

Batra suggested adding team members with that revenue instead of showing profit, which judges found to be much more palatable.

THE FUTURE

Conversations with investors and clients are already under way, and the pair are in the process of launching the corporation.

Figuring out which type of corporation to set up and when and how to seek outside investment is still a work in progress.

The $50,000 winnings from the Pelican Cup is a start to continuing the platform build that Alton said could be finished in a matter of months.

But more than the winnings, Batra said the victory signals to clients and investors "how serious we are."

"It's the validation for me - the validation from judges and others that were there," Batra said. "This app could really change the whole system and save so many lives.

"There's going to be a lot of friction and sandpaper, but when people start taking us seriously, I think we can make the change. Nine of out 10 doctors we've talked to says the system needs to change, and most of them said they'd be willing to pay for a solution like this."

How many lives? The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that medication non-adherence causes 125,000 deaths, one out of every 10 hospitalizations, and just under $300 billion in increased costs every year in the U.S.

Prescription abandonment plays a large role in that number, additionally pushing up costs for pharmacies as inventories swell.

The app still has a journey to reach doctors, pharmacists, and eventually patients, but Alton says he's "going all in."

"Before I went to LSUS, I never considered doing anything with this idea because I had no idea where to start," Alton said. "Now we have the foundation of something that can change the entire system.

"Sticking with it and not giving up is the best decision I've ever made."