Prescribers often feel pressure to see many patients during the day. There may not be time for more than a short conversation with the patient, let alone to find missing (or misremembered) medication history. But we know that the history often exists electronically.
Most prescribers and staff can get medication history—in their electronic health record (EHR) software, at the point of care—and it’s more than just a static list of medications. Surescripts delivered more than 2 billion medication histories in 2021, and each meant higher quality, informed care for patients.
The Parkland Center for Healthcare Innovation & Clinical Outcomes in Dallas is a nonprofit research institute that serves vulnerable populations. Parkland recently shared two patient scenarios where a technician used Surescripts Medication History solutions during admissions to find missing information.
All it took was a few clicks of the mouse.
Language Barrier, Defeated
The patient, who didn't speak English, was admitted to the hospital without an active medication list. She could explain why she had been prescribed her medications but could not share any more about them. As a work-around, the technician used Medication History for Reconciliation to pull the patient’s history directly into the EHR for the care team to see and act on.
A Brief Hunt for Proper Dosing
The newly admitted patient could not recall the doses for his medications when he arrived at the hospital. Again, using Medication History for Reconciliation, the technician pulled an up-to-date patient history and confirmed the proper dosing. There was no need to spend time on the phone with outside pharmacies and prescribers to stitch the information together.
Innovation (And Optimization) For a Complete Picture
Patients should not be expected to remember the fine details of their medication history—and the correct dosing for those medications—when the information already exists electronically and can be pulled into the EHR.
Our Medication History solutions provide a more complete and accurate view of a patient’s medication history, with data supplied by pharmacy benefit managers and pharmacies covering more than 99% of all patients.
And we keep making it better with recent enhancements that include augmentation and deduplication:
- Augmentation plugs holes in medication history data—and gives prescribers a more complete data set. The data set includes internal Surescripts directories and third-party sources with phone numbers for prescribers and pharmacies, which saves time if you do need to reach out.
- Deduplication provides just one instance of a medication within the patient’s medication list by deduplicating claim and fill records. Simpler lists to review means less time spent on reconciliation.
Enhancements like these help to reduce administrative burden on prescribers, pharmacies and staff—and create a better experience for patients.
Dean Riggott Photography
Surescripts
