Drug Data for Clinical Decision Support

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.