In Prescription Accuracy, the Patient is the Point

In prescription accuracy, measures of progress are data-driven, but the real story is told through improved patient care. The 2022 Surescripts White Coat Award recognizes organizations across healthcare who made great gains in prescription accuracy, and by extension, great gains for their patients.

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2022 Surescripts White Coat Award Recognizes Leaders in Patient Safety and Healthcare Delivery

Clarity.

That’s what we’re aiming for when it comes to prescription accuracy. Clarity means that everyone—prescribers, pharmacists and patients—know what they need to know about any given prescription.

Not only does clarity streamline the prescribing and fulfillment process, but it improves time to therapy and patient safety. Prescribers and pharmacists understand each other. Patients understand the instructions. With 2.12 billion e-prescriptions filled in 2021 alone, clarity is all important, and focusing on prescription accuracy adds up to big dividends.

Let’s look at two major improvements involving Structured & Codified Sig and RxChange.

“The White Coat Award represents a win in the competitive world of prescribing systems.”

Dr. Eric Weidmann

Chief Medical Officer, CompuGroup Medical US (CGM eMDs and CGM APRIMA)

Our White Coat Award winners’ focus on clarity made it easier for everyone to understand directions for the proper use of medication, and when resolving concerns with prescriptions during prescribing and fulfillment, it was easier for prescribers and pharmacists to communicate with each other.

Here’s how:

• More precise instructions: The Structured & Codified Sig field standardizes the input of directions for medication use. This reduces the possibility of errors. At the start of 2021, only 11% of electronic health records (EHRs) were using this field, but by the end of the year, it was 23%.
• In-flight changes: By using RxChange, pharmacies can communicate easily with prescribers to resolve prescription concerns within their electronic workflow. Our RxChange response rate across the network was 32% in 2020, but in 2021, it had jumped to 40%.

To celebrate these improvements, the 2022 Surescripts White Coat Awards recognize leaders in three categories. The Structured & Codified Sig Champion award recognizes organizations who made the best use of this field, while the RxChange Champion award highlights organizations who successfully advanced their use of the RxChange transaction.

In addition, the Highest Accuracy award recognizes the best overall accuracy score, as measured by the Surescripts Sentinel® e-prescription accuracy engine. In 2021, the Surescripts Network Alliance saw a 10% increase in the aggregated Quality Index Score for e-prescriptions across the network—a 200% improvement since 2016.