Drug Interaction Data for EHRs and ePrescribers

Recent reports on research from the December 2010 issue of the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine (abstract here) have pointed out that less than 3% of pediatric hospitals have what the researchers considered a "comprehensive EHR".  Those with "basic EHRs" amounted to just 18% more.

According to the researchers, this means that an overwhelming majority of pediatric hospitals lack standard EHR functionality like ePrescribing.  Clinical decision support functions are also not widely available.

Is the reason money... or value?
The survey cites lack of financing as the main reason for the low adoption.  But we all know that questions of money are really questions of value -- if pediatric hospitals found EHR systems highly valuable, they would be more likely to find financing for them.

When you think about the data that drives most of the common functions of EHRs (functions like drug interaction checking, duplicate therapy, dosage range checking, dosage administration, and even patient education), it's no wonder that pediatric hospitals aren't seeing the value.  Most of that data -- and, by extension, EHR functionality -- is designed for adults!

Lexicomp -- the industry leader in pediatric drug information
At the very least, pediatric hospitals need an EHR that they can customize with their own clinical guidelines on pediatric dosing and interactions.  But better than that would be a system that already takes into account their specific needs.  Lexicomp has been the undisputed market leader for reference information for pediatric hospitals for decades -- and now Lexicomp is offering transactional data as well.