Dosage Calculator

HIMSS 2012: Lexicomp Provides Superior Drug Interaction Data

Wednesday, January 11, 2012 by Michelle Curren

Lexi-Data, Lexicomp's clinical decision support database is perfect for EMR vendors looking to meet a number of Meaningful Use requirements:

Allows for specific clinical decision support functions, including drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction checking
Has consumer-facing patient education materials
Is compliant with the RxNorm
Include comprehensives reference information for the US including drug generic name, drug brand name, drug classifications, and eventually clinical dosage guidelines for calculating pediatric and adult doses

Lexicomp will be exhibiting at HIMSS 2012 in Las Vegas, from February 20 - 24. Stop by for a visit at Booth #5134 and learn more about the choices you have in drug information databases!

A Reprise: Are you building an EMR? Does it have reliable pediatric dose range calulations?

Friday, September 16, 2011 by David Wilkof

I am reposting comments I made several months ago. Why? Because it is very important to build an EMR with the best pediatric dosing information possible. The implication are clear. So, if you are in the midst of building a new EMR or just want to include a link from your EHR over to Lexicomp Online's Pediatric Dose Range Checking, I would suggest reading this.

Are you building an EMR? Does it have reliable pediatric dose range calulations?

Monday, June 27, 2011 by David Wilkof

It might seem like an easy question, but the answer is neither obvious nor unimportant. Both pediatric and neonatal dose range calculators are receiving more focus and attention. This is serious business, with serious consequences. Last week, Matt Bennardo wrote a blog posting where he cited a study by Practice Fusion, where it has been shown that EHR's are having a real impact on the decrease in infant mortality. This is great news for those EHR's that have elected to use better dose range checking calculators.

As I said in a post last week. "All pediatric dosage calculators are not created equally. As Matt goes on to say, "But luckily there are drug information vendors like Lexicomp that understand there is a vast world of difference between adults and children -- and often between older children and neonates. Lexicomp's drug information is trusted by dozens of EHR vendors to guide clinicians in prescribing, fulfilling, and administering drugs to patients of all types -- including children."

Lexicomp provides both "machine readable" transactional information (geared towards specific populations) for use in clinical decision support, as well as "human readable" reference materials for clinicians and patients. Even Lexicomp's patient education leaflets are written with either adult or pediatric patients in mind.

If you are developing an EMR or looking to improve an EHR or HIS system, I would suggest reaching out to Lexicomp for some suggestions. Lexicomp is known for its pediatric and neonatal drug information.

Dentistry Practice Management Systems Need Clinical Decision Support

Wednesday, August 3, 2011 by David White

EMR vendors are not the only ones rapidly deploying clinical decision support systems to healthcare providers. Dental professionals are demanding that their practice management systems overcome massive development hurdles in order to comply with Meaningful Use standards.

There is a buzz in the dental technology community about Meaningful Use and incorporating more clinical decision support into the practice management system workflow. If you are searching for the best dental specific drug database to integrate into your dental EMR, turn to Lexicomp. There are very few suppliers of drug data within the dental market and even fewer still that are easy to work with. And if you are looking for an easy-to-use, out-of-the-box ePrescribing tool, trust our partner DoseSpot to deliver the solution. What do all of these companies have in common? They are easy to work with and provide you with the ability to get to the market fast!

Don't wait to the end of your development process to worry about: dose range checking, pediatric dosing, drug calculators, medicine interactions, dosage precautions, clinical guidelines, drug interaction software, duplicate therapy, drug classifications, generic drug names, drug nomenclature and more. These are critical paths for a dental EMR build. But it's not just about the information. It's about who you select as your partner and who has seamless API's which makes your development easier.

You owe it to your product and your customer to make the right choice.

Does your community pharmacy have the tools to check pediatric doses?

Friday, July 8, 2011 by Chris Madjerich

Having a sick child can be a challenging and stressful time for any parent. A sick child also presents challenges for health care professionals as well as health information systems as it relates to prescribing medications. For a number of medications, pediatric dosage calculations are based on weight. Having a weight available in the community pharmacy setting is often challenging, however this is only the first step in being able to validate the correct dosage range. The second piece necessary to accurately check the validity of a pediatric prescription is having the correct information in your pharmacy system.

All too often, community pharmacy systems are not equipped with the necessary drug reference database to accurately evaluate a pediatric dose. For over 15 years, pediatric practitioners have been using Lexicomp's Pediatric Dosage Handbook and more recently, our electronic versions to prescribe and validate pediatric dosing. Now, this information has been transformed into a data set that can be integrated into pharmacy systems to allow your HIS to help you validate these critical doses. For more information about this product, visit http://www.lexi.com/businesses/ehr-vendors/.

In Need of an Expert Pediatric Dosage Calculator? Lexicomp Can Help!

Friday, July 1, 2011 by Darik Warnke

If you are in pediatrics you are most likely familiar with the Pediatric Dosage Handbook or Pediatric & Neonatal Lexi-Drugs by Lexicomp. If you are not familiar with these resources I would highly recommend looking into these as many consider this information as the "bible" in safe pediatric dosing. Now that Meaningful Use has been introduced and the larger overall concept of clinical decsion support and integration, Lexicomp has taken this key content and made it available as a database accessed through APIs.

Now that more and more clinical decision support resources are being integrated into the workflow, Lexicomp has invested the resources to be able to offer healthcare applications like EMR, CPOE, etc., a comprehensive database that can easily be implemented for pediatric speicific dosing and drug information, all right within the workflow. The content from Lexicomp's pediatric information can be implemented to build pediatric dosing checks as well as a pediatric dosage calculator to ensure that pediatric and neonatal patients receive safe, accurate dosing and treatment.

So wether you are a clinician or you are an EMR developer this information is a must have and important. Clinicians can benefit from Lexicomp's products the best way they see fit. Subscribing to our print or subscription based references or by having your EMR implement this Lexi-Data, this information cna be implemented right within your workflow.

More information on Integrating Lexicomp content into your workflow.

Are you building an EMR? Does it have reliable pediatric dose range calulations?

Monday, June 27, 2011 by David Wilkof

Can you rely on your HIS and EMR to check your pediatric dosage calculations?

Tuesday, June 21, 2011 by David Wilkof

Matt Bennardo had a great blog post last week where he wrote about the positive benefits of Meaningful Use on the development of EHRs and their impact on patient safety. He cites a study by Practice Fusion, where it has been shown that EHR's are having a real impact on the decrease in infant mortality. This is great news!

As Matt wrote, "Of course, to get these kinds of results, the information in the EHR needs to be accurate, timely, complete, actionable, and specific to the patient. With respect to pediatric and neonatal patients, that last point is especially important. An EHR that is only set up to perform dose range checking and interaction checking on adults won't be nearly as helpful when it comes to children."

All pediatric dosage calculators are not created equally. As Matt goes on to say, "But luckily there are drug information vendors like Lexicomp that understand there is a vast world of difference between adults and children -- and often between older children and neonates. Lexicomp's drug information is trusted by dozens of EHR vendors to guide clinicians in prescribing, fulfilling, and administering drugs to patients of all types -- including children.

Lexicomp provides both "machine readable" transactional information (geared towards specific populations) for use in clinical decision support, as well as "human readable" reference materials for clinicians and patients. Even Lexicomp's patient education leaflets are written with either adult or pediatric patients in mind.

If you are developing an EMR or looking to improve an EHR or HIS system, I would suggest reaching out to Lexicomp for some suggestions.

EPrescribing, Florida doctors, Medication Databases

Tuesday, June 7, 2011 by David Wilkof

What do all of these have in common? Well for one thing, they are being driven in part by the demands of Meaningful Use requirements. Here is just one example of Meaningful Use effect. Some of the demands are actually in place, and many others roll out over the next few years. EPrescribing in Florida looks like it might be taking an interesting turn as free application provided by the State may be going away, or so I have heard. This recently posted ePrecribing blog described it in greater detail. And a second blog.

As Meaningful Use requirements have dictated more relevant application of medication and drug data within EMR and EHR systems, the awareness of the nuances of these databases has also gone up. Recognition of the following terms is becoming more commonplace: Drug Reference Database; Dosage Range, Dosing in Pediatrics, Drug Interaction List, Pediatric Dosage Calculator, Medicine Interaction. Clinical Decision Support Systems, Drug Content, and more.

Can you rely on your HIS to check your pediatric dosage calculations?

Tuesday, June 7, 2011 by Chris Madjerich

As we attempt to incorporate more technology into medicine through the use of HIS, it brings to light the need for more than just a simple medication list. Health information systems are now being asked to help improve patient outcomes by performing other clinical decision support functions that go beyond a pick list. If we truly want to improve patient outcomes, it is important that our HIS provide relevant clinical guidance especially in a critical population such as pediatrics. Calculating pediatric doses is not always an easy task and having data in your HIS that can perform pediatric dosing calculations can be an invaluable tool in improving patient outcomes.

Lexicomp has a long standing reputation of providing this valuable and often difficult dosing information in the Pediatric Dosage Handbook. For over 20 years, we have been providing neonatal and pediatric dosing based on available literature and current clinical practice. More recently this information has been transformed into Lexi-Data's Pediatric Dosage Range Checking application. This content can be used within an HIS to provide guidance to your clinicians on appropriate dosing for this difficult and vulnerable population.

Dosing in Pediatrics

Monday, June 6, 2011 by Michelle Curren

Matt Bennardo had a great post last week regarding a study which showed the connection between EHRs and their improvement on pediatric care.

With several pediatric calculators on the market, how can one tell which to trust? A reference book can be helpful, yet many other considerations should be taken into account. It is vital to screen drug interactions with the full medicine list of the child along with their maturation. Having all this information readily available with an EMR can vastly work to reduce errors. When dealing with pediatrics, especially neonatal patients, attention to detail and continually updated, unbiased information is best. Lexicomp has all the options to achieve improved safety for patients of any age.

These options include:

Pediatric Dosage Calculations in both transactional information for the clinical decision support systems and reference materials designed for clinicians.
Pediatric focused patient education materials

Looking for drug information to include in your EMR, EHR or HIS system?

Friday, May 6, 2011 by David Wilkof

Several weeks ago I wrote a blog posting that included a list of drug information considerations for EMR vendors that were launching new products or looking to improve their current products. As I wrote:

More and more EMR vendors and hospital EHR/HIS systems are attempting to improve their drug information to further enhance clinical decision support. Below are just a few areas where having the right medicine data can make all the difference in the world.

Drug Interaction Lists
Adverse Drug Event Alerts
Patient Education Pamphlets in 19 Languages
RxNorm Mapping
Pediatric Dosage Calculations
Drug Allergy Interactions
Clinical Guidelines
Drug Interaction Software
Drug - Drug Interactions
Drug - Allergy interactions

There are very few drug information providers in the marketplace that have both quality data and a top notch, customer-oriented support staff. Cerner/Multum and Lexicomp top the list. Lexicomp offers a unique blend of top quality information coupled with the finest internal support anywhere. Your IT guys will love you for going with Lexicomp -- a long-term partner in your road to success.

Looking for easy implementation? We've got you covered.

Friday, April 29, 2011 by Michelle Curren

What is holding you back from easy implementation? Perhaps you have a laundry list of items or perhaps money is constraint. Either way, look to Lexicomp for an intuitive database design that will help you seamlessly integrate complex drug databases into your system.

Other items that Lexicomp can help check off your list:

Allows for specific clinical decision support functions, including drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction checking
Has consumer-facing patient education materials
Is compliant with the RxNorm
Include comprehensive reference information for the US including drug generic name, drug brand name, drug classifications, and eventually clinical dosage guidelines for calculating pediatric and adult doses

So look around the market, investigate, but remember that Lexicomp can serve all your needs!

The Best Drug Information for EMRs, EHRs and other Patient Record Systems

Thursday, April 28, 2011 by David Wilkof

More and more EMR vendors and hospital EHR/HIS systems are attempting to improve their drug information to further enhance clinical decision support. Below are just a few areas where having the right medicine data can make all the difference in the world.

Drug Interaction Lists
Adverse Drug Event Alerts
Patient Education Pamphlets in 19 Languages
RxNorm Mapping
Pediatric Dosage Calculations
Drug Allergy Interactions
Clinical Guidelines
Drug Interaction Software
Drug - Drug Interactions
Drug - Allergy interactions

Lexicomp is a unique blend of top quality information coupled with the finest internal support anywhere. Your IT guys will love you for going with Lexicomp -- a long-term partner in your road to success.

Integrating drug and medicine data and information into your EHR, EMR and hopsitals

Friday, April 15, 2011 by David Wilkof

You know the old line, "Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't after me." Well, the same holds true for my assessment of integrating drug data and medicine data into EMRs, EHRs, HISs, etc. I guess, I would say it like this, "Ok, I admit I'm biased, but that doesn't mean I am wrong." Biased about what? That Lexicomp, a recent arrival in the drug data marketplace, is growing fast based on its quality of data, quality of support, quality of data structure, and affordable pricing.

We are in a fast changing marketplace, which makes the advantages of Lexicomp even more pronounced. As I said several months ago in one of my posts:

"America is a great country. I wouldn't be surprised if there were more EMRs (and related systems) in development in the United States than the rest of the world combined. Cultural and marketplace paroxysms create stress and discomfort, and at the same time result in major breakthroughs and great new products. That is what is going on this country, day by day. The great scramble is on. There is much pressure to do things quickly and get to the market rapidly before the doors begin closing."

Does the drug information you're using provide only the bare-bones basics, or will they provide access to enhanced functionality like:

Drug Interaction Lists
Adverse Drug Event Alerts
Patient Education Pamphlets in 19 Languages
RxNorm Mapping
Pediatric Dosage Calculations
Drug Allergy Interactions
Clinical Guidelines

Lexicomp will work you and be a partner in your efforts for growth and success.

Is Your EHR System Singing the Folsom Prison Blues?

Wednesday, April 13, 2011 by Matt Snodgrass

As I was musing over what to write in this week's clinical decision support blog post, I recalled a post I wanted to write months ago but somehow never found time to. So, I'm bringing it out now, a little bit late, but still very relevant.

I'm a big fan of Johnny Cash. From his earliest work to his last few "American" recordings, his voice and music have an ethereal, timeless, and somewhat haunted quality that manage to connect and appeal to millions.

I love Christmas, too. It's my favorite holiday, hands down. The food, the family, the friends, the time off to just reflect and appreciate all that you have. Quite possibly, my favorite aspect of Christmas is listening to Christmas carols.

For Christmas last year, I received the "Christmas with Johnny Cash" CD and, as can be imagined, I was thrilled. Take two things that are wonderful of their own accord (Cash and Christmas carols), put them together, and you HAVE to get something greater than the sum of the individual parts, right?

Oh, how wrong I was. I'm saddened to say that this CD might be one of the worst I've ever listened to. One dreary dirge after another, mostly spoken word over top a few strummed guitar chords, with occasionally a gospel chorus in the background. It was nothing that I expected and after one listen my new CD was put away, likely never to be listened to again.

I started thinking of this and wondered, will your EHR fall into this same trap?

Any EHR system worth its salt has to have a solid drug information component as part of the backbone of the application. But just because you take a good EHR and good drug information content and put them together doesn't mean you're going to get a workable result that people can use easily.

Does the drug information you're using provide only the bare-bones basics, or will they provide access to enhanced functionality like:

Drug Interaction Lists
Adverse Drug Event Alerts
Patient Education Pamphlets in 19 Languages
RxNorm Mapping
Pediatric Dosage Calculations
Drug Allergy Interactions
Clinical Guidelines

Will they work with you as partners, to help you through integration, data structure issues, and making sure your system integrity is never compromised, like Lexicomp? Or will they sell you their data and walk away?

As an EHR vendor, you can't afford anything less than perfect alignment between your system and the information that ties into it. We'll help you make certain that you're combining the best aspects of each and ensure that the output is far greater than the sum of the inputs. So why not spend a few minutes getting to know Lexicomp?

HITECH Act Drug Qualifications

Thursday, March 31, 2011 by Michelle Curren

Here are some of the qualifications that drug reference and drug interaction data must meet to qualify:

-- Must allow for specific clinical decision support functions, including drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction checking

-- Must have consumer-facing patient education materials

-- Must be compliant with the RxNorm (a medication list maintained by the National Library of Medicine)

-- Must include comprehensive reference information for the US including drug generic name, drug brand name, drug classifications, and eventually clinical dosage guidelines for calculating pediatric and adult doses

When looking for drug information that meets all these requirement, pick one that will partner with you to meet your needs, whether they be speed to market, budgetary, or customer service.

This is what one of Lexicomp's satisfied customers has to say:

"We spent months researching and investigating the competition. Lexi-Comp business partnering and licensing division gave us the tools we needed to test it in our application to assure our clinicians that we had a reliable and trustworthy source. Their responsiveness to inquiries and requests sold us on a solid partnership we could count on."

- Coletta Dorado, CEO of IntuitivEMR

Resources for Pediatric Dose Range Checking

Thursday, March 31, 2011 by Mark Bonfiglio

Several institutions, as well as drug data vendors, have constructed dose range checking content. In many cases, the institutions have learned that this can be a difficult process to complete and maintain. Reliance on a drug reference book such as the Pediatric Dosage Handbook to create these data technically is outside of the terms of use, and leaves open the issue of maintenance and timely modification as new information appears in the literature.

Without a valid model to identify, acquire, evaluate, and publish. Dosage precautions which are not actively supported by this type of surveillance typically fall out of date rather rapidly. Pediatric dose calculations can be limited, and therapeutic dosages which are supported in the literature may be identified as outside the range. This type of over-alerting is a source of frustration. Lexicomp has worked with its partners to transform the content of the Handbook into a database with associated APIs to execute dose range checking for pediatrics. In addition, these data are actively modified in conjunction with the normal process of maintaining this publication. In this way, the user can integrate dose range checking simply, with the assurance that the data are continuously updated and expanded.

Capitalize on the Growth of Ambulatory EMRs

Saturday, March 5, 2011 by David White

Are you an EMR or EHR vendor looking to enter the ambulatory care market? If so, now is the right time to capitalize on the expanded use of clinical decision support tools by these healthcare professionals. A recent article in Healthcare IT News states that "one third of physician practices and community health clinics are poised to replace their electronic medical records systems". Are you ready for the this onslaught of new business or are still trying to launch your system?

If you are lagging behind the development curve, a surefire way to enter the market faster is to partner with a proven leader in drug databases for clinical decision support systems. Lexicomp's integrated solutions help hospitals, EMRs, consumer websites and other health IT developers easily implement drug reference information and drug data into their systems. When integrated into HIS systems, Lexicomp solutions provide clinicians access to current and relevant drug information, and supply end users the functionality to support several aspects of clinical decision support required by an EMR for certification.

Whether you are looking for basic drug nomenclature, dosage range calculators, drug interaction software, or ePrescribing solutions, turn to Lexicomp to help you enter the ambulatory market faster!

Where can you get drug interaction data for HITECH Act compliance?

Friday, March 4, 2011 by Matt Bennardo

The HITECH Act (commonly known as "Meaningful Use") has some specific requirements for drug reference and drug interaction data which can be used to qualify for incentive money. There aren't many vendors that can provide such specific information, so it's important to shop around to every available seller. Lexicomp and Multum are two vendors that offer qualifying data.

Here are some of the qualifications that drug reference and drug interaction data must meet:
-- Must allow for specific clinical decision support functions, including drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction checking
-- Must have consumer-facing patient education materials
-- Must be compliant with the RxNorm (a medication list maintained by the National Library of Medicine)
-- Must include comprehensive reference information for the US including drug generic name, drug brand name, drug classifications, and eventually clinical dosage guidelines for calculating pediatric and adult doses

Both Lexicomp and Multum meet all of these criteria and more. Shopping around to different vendors may give you options that better fit your budget, development environment, support needs, or timeline. But always be sure to ask vendors if their information has been used yet by any EMR, EHR, or HIS vendors who have certified for Meaningful Use under the HITECH Act.

Consumer groups want healthcare providers to push forward on Meaningful Use

Wednesday, March 2, 2011 by David Wilkof

According to iHealthBeat, "a coalition of 25 interested consumer groups said that ONC should resist pressure from health care providers to scale back requirements (Health Data Management, 2/28).

The consumer groups and unions expressed support for several issues, including:

Transitioning all "optional" criteria in Stage 1 to "required" criteria in Stage 2;
Advancing key criteria that have an impact on quality and safety, such as electronic prescribing and medication reconciliation;
Improving collection of advance directives (CMIO, 2/28); and
Providing patients with online access to their health data, as well as secure messaging capabilities."

It is unclear how much will be required if government dollars dry up. But regardless, medical institutions and vendors need to keep pushing forward. It will be too difficult to turn the spigot on and off. This theme kept coming through at HIMSS.

Specifically in the areas of EHRs, EMRs, HIS', ePrescribing and more, they need to keep moving forward in their efforts to include drug-drug interaction, drug-allergy interaction, therapeutic dosages, medicine interactions, dosage administration, dosage precautions, medication brand names and generic names, pediatric dosage calculations, and eprescribing. Regardless of what the specific requirements will look like 12 months from now, there is no doubt that these changes will improve patient outcomes. Whether you go to Lexicomp or to Multum, find a vendor that will be your solution partner to help you through minefields. APIs are rarely just plug and play. Having the right partner will make a big difference.