I have had several comments asking for me to repeat several of my recent blog posts, so here they are:
The first one:
"In a few short years, Lexicomp has gone from being the provider of choice for
drug reference information to the vendor of choice for EMR development companies looking for a supplier of drug data to include in their product. Lexi-Data provides all of the standard drug information that one would expect from the other suppliers, but it also provides the best pediatric dosing information available. In addition to supplying the expected information such as drug-drug and drug-allergy interactions, adverse drug events, RxNorm mapping, generic drug lists, drug nomenclature, and more. Lexi-Data offers an incredibly easy to use data structure and API's and most importantly, Lexicomp is unparalleled in its customer service and providing assistance in the development process. If you are developing a new EMR and need a drug information supplier, make sure that Lexi is on your list."
The second: (enjoy)
"We live in a turbulent and fast changing world. What was good yesterday is not necessarily what is best for today. Where is Netscape? How about Alta Vista? Lotus is certainly history but how many of you remember Multiplan and before that VisiCalc? The changes occur quickly -- not like the phasing out of a buggy whip.
The same could be said about more and more EMR developers who are turning to Lexi-Data for their drug information. Lexi-Data just hit the scene a little more than two years ago. And how quickly it has grown and capturing a major part of new EMR development in need of drug information. Why so?
Is it about drug information quality? Is it about ease of integrating the APIs? How about quality of the
Pediatric Drug Information and drug-drug and drug-allergy interactions? Or is about the top quality customer support during the development and integration phase, where Lexicomp treats it customers like true partners?"
Needless to say, as you can imagine, it is about all of the above. If you haven't acted yet, it is about time.
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!
In a few short years, Lexicomp has gone from being the provider of choice for
drug reference information to the vendor of choice for EMR development companies looking for a supplier of drug data to include in their product. Lexi-Data provides all of the standard drug information that one would expect from the other suppliers, but it also provides the best pediatric dosing information available. In addition to supplying the expected information such as drug-drug and drug-allergy interactions, adverse drug events, RxNorm mapping, generic drug lists, drug nomenclature, and more. Lexi-Data offers an incredibly easy to use data structure and API's and most importantly, Lexicomp is unparalleled in its customer service and providing assistance in the development process. If you are developing a new EMR and need a drug information supplier, make sure that Lexi is on your list.
Lexicomp has now released the second phase of a comprehensive web services solution to EMR developers to access drug information. For those EMR and Practice Management systems that do not want to store drug information in their product, they now have an option. In the second phase, Lexicomp has released web services to include a proprietary Black Box warning decision tool to reduce alert overload. Phase II also include dose range checking (DRC) and 12 new searching tools.
For EMR developers that have need for any of the following drug nformation or tools in their product, Pediatric Dose Range Checking (Lexicomp is the leader in this area); Patient Education Materials; Drug Interaction Software; RxNorm Mapping; Medicine Lists, Generic Drugs; Dose Information;
ePrescribing, and more--- they should call Lexicomp.
As Matt Bennardo pointed out, when EMR and EHR companies are under development and they are looking to include drug and medicine information, they must given proper consideration to the quality of the drug information, the ease of installation, and the level of customer service provided by the drug data provider. In order to meet the Meaningful Use standards, the EMR and EHR developers now care more about drug and medicine information than ever before. They now care about drug interactions, drug-drug and drug-allergy interactions, adverse drug events, patient education pamphlets, dose information, pediatric dosing inforamation, drug brand names and drug generic names.
Hundreds of Lexi-Data customers are now integrating Lexicomp reference and transaction drug information into their systems under development. As Matt had said:
"Comprehensive data covers all decision support Meaningful Use requirements: - Compatible with required standards like RxNorm
- Supports drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction checking
- All data necessary for ePrescribing and CPOE
- Additional functionality like dose range checking
Fastest and easiest integration gets you to market faster: - Easy-to-use APIs and web services -- you choose which you want
- Superior one-on-one customer service
- Most intuitive data structure and fastest implementation
New features set you apart from the competition: - Black Box Warning filters to alleviate clinician alert fatigue
- Patient education available in 19 languages
Click the links on this page to find out more about Lexi-Data now!"
For years, Multum Lexicon was the source for researchers to get drug reference and
drug interaction data. But where can researchers now get medication lists, pharmaceutical monographs, drug-drug interactions, drug-allery interactions, and more?
Today, there is an enhanced and updated product built on the foundation of Multum Lexicon. It's Lexicomp's Lexi-Data transactional database. Lexi-Data provides drug names (brand name, generic name, and common abbreviations), therapeutic categories, drug classifications, indications, and standard coding such as NDC, J-Codes, and ICD-9. The data in Lexi-Data has been utilized by many universities and research institutions, including research on pharmaceutical policy and outcomes, aging, and more.
Multum is a registered trademark of Cerner Corp.
For many years, the primary provider of drug reference and drug interaction information to researchers was Multum's Lexicon product. Today, there is also another product that is built on the foundation of Lexicon. That new product is Lexicomp's Lexi-Data Basic database.
In an earlier post, my colleague Ryan Smith explained how Lexi-Data Basic is now serving the needs of researchers:
"Lexi-Data Basic provides drug information that includes drug names (brand name, generic name, and common abbreviations), therapeutic categories, drug classifications, indications, and standard coding such as NDC, J-Cods, and ICD-9. The Lexi-Data Basic product is powered by the widely known and trusted Multum Lexicon product which has been utilized by hundreds of universities and institutions in the past. Multum is a registered trademark of Cerner Corp."
For more information on Lexi-Data Basic, click the links to fill out the form on this page.
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.
There are many universities and institutions that now require access to an up-to-date standardized drug database which would be used for analytics, claims review / auditing, or research purposes. Many of these universities and/or institutions now have a Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy department or Institute on Aging department that are focused on various aspects of research.
One product that has long served the needs of these researchers and univerisities is Multum's Lexicon. Another is Lexi-Data Basic.
Lexi-Data Basic provides drug information that includes drug names (brand name, generic name, and common abbreviations), therapeutic categories, drug classifications, indications, and standard coding such as NDC, J-Cods, and ICD-9. The Lexi-Data Basic product is powered by the widely known and trusted Multum Lexicon product which has been utilized by hundreds of universities and institutions in the past. Multum is a registered trademark of Cerner Corp.
For more information on Lexi-Data Basic, click the links to fill out the form on this page.
There are a high number of companies that are attempting to analyze the usage of a drug products by specific diagnosis, line of therapy, stage of disease, and much more by electronically collecting information through software programs and then performing analytics. These types of companies might be interested in looking at drug and drug combination administered, line of therapy, dose administered, change of therapy reason, and I’m sure that there are many other use cases.
Many of these companies are turning to Lexicomp for core drug nomenclature because Lexicomp's database is up-to-date, highly normalized, flexible classification schemes, and the granular data they need to perform this type of analysis.
Lexi-Data Basic provides drug information that includes drug names (brand name, generic name, route, strength, form, National Drug Code (NDC), etc.), therapeutic categories, drug classifications, pricing, standard or customized disease names and associated ICD-9 codes, and other coding systems such as NDC and J-Codes. This database is compatible with Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, and Access.
There has been a race by existing and new EMR companies to get new products into the marketplace as soon as possible. And now with both the reimbursement benefits and soon to follow requirements related to eprescribing, we have seen additional products and add-on modules hit the marketplace. Many of these new products and new companies have approached Lexicomp to secure drug and medicine information to include in these products.
Lexicomp as a drug data provider for these systems appeared on the scene several years ago and has quickly increased market share for these new products under development. Why so?
There are probably three reasons for this quick ascent. First, good and reliable information. Second, a great internal IT team to work with for development purposes. They are talented, friendly and easy to work with. It's great to have APIs available, but if the support you receive from your data provider is weak, unfriendly, or non-existent, then how much does it help you? Finally, the data structure of the files is terrific. It is elegant, logical and easy to use to.
Some existing EMR and EHR companies have found it challenging to switch over current products due to their reliance on the structure of data from their current provider, even though they very much wanted to make that shift. However, as more and more of the companies are developing new products and new modules, they are making the shift and not looking back.
So if you are an EHR, EMR, or HIS and are looking for the best way to include the following information in your product, Lexicomp is definitely worth a conversation:
- Patient Education leaflets
- Drug interaction databases
- Drug-drug interaction data
- Drug information for meaningful use
- Drug - allergy interaction checking
- Pediatric drug dosing charts and information
- Medicine brand and generic names
- Adverse drug events checking
- Drug information for clinical information support.
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!
I visited a tag sale this weekend and saw a lamp that intrigued me. Though it was an expensive brand, it was neither a beautiful lamp nor a particulalry useful lamp based on its shape. I couldn't stop thinking about this lamp but, in the end, I decided that it was more expensive than I was willing to pay and I'd come back on the next day to see if it was still there, knowing that tag sales typically mark down their items on the last day.
I visited the sale again on Sunday and imagine my surprise when I saw that the lamp had been marked up and was more expensive than when I had initially seen it! The sales staff were honest with me and told me that there had been so much interest in the lamp and so many people who said they were going to come back on Sunday, that they decided they'd raise the price.
As I said, this was neither an aesthetically pleasing lamp, nor was it particulalry useful, based on its awkward size and shape. Yet here they were, charging a premium for something that, from a utlititarian standpoint, did not warrant it; simply because they could.
Is your drug information provider charging a premium for sub-par (or at best, adequate) information? Does what you're getting really warrant what you're paying? Just because you're paying a premium for drug information for your EHR doesn't mean you're getting all that you need.
Lexicomp is not only a reasonably priced drug information provider, but can help by providing a medication list that includes both generic, brand name, and over-the-counter drugs. By providing drug interaction screening including drug-drug/drug-food/drug-herbal, dose range checking, and duplicate therapy screening, Lexicomp can help you as an EHR vendor, ensure your clients meet a number of Meaningful Use requirements.
Additionally, the Lexi-Data product is mapped to RXNORM and contains patient education information in up to 19 languages, which is another check box on the Meaningful Use requirements list.
So if you're looking for a drug information provider that can supply premium level content for a reasonable price,
check out Lexicomp. You won't be disappointed!
Several weeks ago I pointed out that an EMR or EHR vendor (or inside hospital HIS development team) overlooks some critical factors in making choices about drug data suppliers. No doubt the quality of the drug data is important, but that is just the beginning. These developers should be equally, if not even more, concerned about what I would call "softer" factors. such as:
1) Structure of the data (how easy is it to map to and identify?)
2) Availability and simplicity of the APIs offered by the vendor
3) How responsive is the drug information provider during the development period (this
will provide a major clue into how the long term relationship will work).
These might sound like simple things, but in the end, they are the most important things. Do your due diligence. Several years ago there were only a couple of drug data suppliers available. Now with the addition of the very well established drug information provider, Lexicomp, these development companies have a choice. Lexicomp has provided clinical decision support for three decades. It provides drug reference solutions to nearly 1500 hospitals in the United States, along with all divisions of the U.S. Military. The
Vancouver study released last year, rated Lexicomp Online as the most preferred drug database.
If you are looking for drug information or medicine data, Lexicomp can help by providing a medication list that includes both generic, brand name, and over-the-counter drugs. By providing drug interaction screening including drug-drug, dose range checking, and duplicate therapy screening, Lexicomp can help EHR vendors meet a number of Meaningful Use requirements. The Lexi-Data product delivered by Lexicomp is also mapped to RXNORM and contains patient education which is another check box on the Meaningful Use requirements list.
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
For too long, there were few choices of drug information providers for EMR, EHR and HIS vendors. It's not only a question of the quality of the drug and medicine information provided, but even more so it is an issue of the:
1) Structure of the data (how easy is it to map to and identify?)
2) Availability and simplicity of the APIs offered by the vendor
3) How responsive is the drug information provider during the development period (this
will provide a major clue into how the long term relationship will work).
These might sound like simple things, but in the end, they are the most important things. Do your due diligence. Check around.
Lexicomp provides drug reference solutions to more than 1500 hospitals in the United States, along with all divisions of the U.S. Military. The Vancouver study released last year, rated Lexicomp Online as the most preferred drug database.
If you are looking for drug information or medicine data, Lexicomp can help by providing a medication list that includes both generic, brand name, and over-the-counter drugs. By providing drug interaction screening including drug-drug, dose range checking, and duplicate therapy screening, Lexicomp can help EHR vendors meet a number of Meaningful Use requirements. The Lexi-Data product delivered by Lexicomp is also mapped to RXNORM and contains patient education which is another check box on the Meaningful Use requirements list.
According to a recent
report from KLAS, "35% of all respondents are replacing their EHR systems and 43% of physician practices with more than 100 doctors are doing so." What does that mean for EHR or EMR vendors? More sales, but only if you are ready. What is keeping you from these customers? If its drug data, then consider partnering with a trusted leader in drug databases for clinical decision support systems.
Consider Lexicomp
Lexicomp can help by providing a medication list that includes both generic, brand name, and over-the-counter drugs. By providing drug interaction screening including drug-drug, dose range checking, and duplicate therapy screening, Lexicomp can help EHR vendors meet a number of Meaningful Use requirements. The Lexi-Data product delivered by Lexicomp is also mapped to RXNORM and contains patient education which is another check box on the Meaningful Use requirements list.
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.
I call attention to my colleague's posting (Mark Dachille) several weeks ago, just prior to HIMSS, when he said.
"Lexicomp can help by providing a medication list that includes both generic, brand name, and over-the-counter drugs. By providing drug interaction screening including drug-drug, drug-allergy, drug-condition, dose range checking, and duplicate therapy screening, Lexicomp can help EHR vendors meet a number of Meaningful use requirements. The Lexi-Data product delivered by Lexicomp is also mapped to RXNORM and contains patient education which is another check box on the Meaningful Use requirements list.
Although there are a number of vendors providing drug nomenclatures, not many can provide all of these features, and could lead to issues down the road with achieving Meaningful Use certification"
Based on this posting, there were many people who visited the Lexicomp looking for solutions to their drug data needs.
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.
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