Kairo

Inspiration

We were inspired by how confusing and unpredictable accessing prescription medication can be, even for people with insurance. Many patients are prescribed medications without knowing whether their insurance covers it, which pharmacy will offer the lowest out-of-pocket cost, or whether a generic alternative is available nearby. Because of this uncertainty, people may delay treatment, skip prescriptions, or pay significantly more than necessary.

We wanted to create a tool that helps users make faster and more informed medication decisions immediately after identifying a prescription.

What it does

Kairo allows users to scan or manually enter a medication name using OCR-powered text recognition. The app then generates recommendation flows based on different priorities, including affordability, insurance compatibility, and urgency. Users can compare estimated copays, generic alternatives, nearby pharmacies, and coverage tiers in one interface.

How we built it

We built Kairo using React Native and Expo Router to create a cross-platform mobile application. We implemented OCR functionality for both uploaded images and live camera captures to recognize medication labels in real time. We also developed ranking systems and recommendation flows that sort pharmacy options based on user priorities such as lowest estimated cost, best insurance coverage, and fastest nearby pickup availability.

Challenges we ran into

One of our biggest challenges was making OCR work consistently across both uploaded images and live camera captures. We also had difficulty designing recommendation systems that felt realistic and useful instead of random. Another challenge was refining the core problem we wanted to solve and making sure the app addressed a meaningful healthcare access issue rather than functioning as a simple convenience tool.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud that we successfully built a working OCR-powered scanning system that can recognize medication names from both uploaded photos and camera captures. We are also proud of building multiple recommendation flows that simulate real-world healthcare decision making, including affordability comparisons, insurance-based recommendations, and urgency-focused pharmacy rankings.

What we learned

Through this project, we learned how OCR systems, ranking algorithms, and recommendation flows can be combined into a user-centered healthcare application. We also learned the importance of defining a strong problem space and connecting technical features back to real-world impact rather than focusing only on functionality.

What's next for Kairo

In the future, we want to integrate real-time pharmacy pricing APIs, insurance verification systems, and live inventory tracking to make recommendations more accurate. We also want to expand personalization features so users can save medication history, preferred pharmacies, and insurance information for faster decision making.

Built With

• exporouter
• javascript
• reactnative
• typescript