South Okanagan General Hospital Strengthens the Best Possible Medication Histories Using DrFirst's Patient Medication History Service with PharmaNet Data in MEDITECH EHR

DrFirst Healthcare Innovations, Inc., the Canadian subsidiary of DrFirst, a leading provider of patient medication management solutions, announced that South Okanagan General Hospital in Oliver, British Columbia, has deployed MedHx, DrFirst's electronic patient medication history service, integrated within the hospital's MEDITECH Enterprise Health Record (EHR). MedHx allows physicians, nurses, and pharmacists to electronically retrieve patient medication histories from PharmaNet, British Columbia's province-wide prescription network, and download the information directly into MEDITECH, creating more complete medication histories for enhanced patient safety and streamlined workflows.

South Okanagan is part of British Columbia's Interior Health Authority, which has contracted with DrFirst to integrate MedHx with MEDITECH at 22 different hospitals. By integrating the PharmaNet drug information system and the MEDITECH EHR, MedHx delivers to clinicians the most comprehensive patient prescription and allergy histories available directly within the clinical workflow.

MedHx incorporates DrFirst's SmartSuite functionality (SmartSig℠, SmartAllergy℠ and SmartDx℠) to intelligently analyze and translate free-text prescription information to further improve the quality of the data and the workflow associated with the medication reconciliation process. Drug data is validated and normalized using DrFirst technology, then sent to the MEDITECH EHR to automatically populate patient histories. With point-of-care access to vital drug dispensing details, physicians have more robust data available to them to drive well-informed prescribing decisions.

"The DrFirst and MEDITECH collaboration facilitates the delivery of safer, more timely care for patients," said Hoda Sayed-Friel, executive vice president, MEDITECH. "Through this integration, clinicians have a more comprehensive summary of the patient's medication information. The PharmaNet medication and allergy data is instantly available within existing clinical workflows, enabling physicians to more quickly and efficiently gather a holistic view of reconciled medication information."

MedHx reduces the time needed to manually research a patient's medication history by as much as 62 percent. As patients are admitted to the hospital, MedHx electronically retrieves patient medication histories from PharmaNet and feeds the data to MEDITECH. Since launching MedHx, South Okanagan clinicians query the medication profiles for 100 percent of patients entering the hospital, eliminating the need for time-consuming data entry and reconciliation, while simultaneously creating a more accurate medical record.

"By implementing the integrated MedHx and MEDITECH solution, Interior Health has demonstrated its commitment to reducing the risk of adverse drug events and improving quality care delivery," said G. Cameron Deemer, president of DrFirst. "We look forward to working with the other hospitals in the province to replicate South Okanagan's success and make vital medication histories easily accessible to clinicians. Both physicians and patients will benefit from more efficient workflows and more complete patient records."

Through the end of the year, Interior Health will integrate MedHx with existing MEDITECH EHRs at Royal Inland Hospital, Vernon Jubilee Hospital, Kelowna General Hospital and Penticton Regional Hospital. The balance of the hospitals will be implemented thereafter.


SOURCE DrFirst
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