With hundreds of EMR vendors rushing to enter the market these days and with limited time left in the government Meaningful Use incentives, speed to market is top of everyone's mind. Electronic health records and electronic prescribing are part of the near future of healthcare, and the first arrivals with the best products will likely win the race.
At Lexicomp, we have helped many EMRs implement clinical decision support systems and prepare for (and then pass!) ONC-ATB certification. Several of our satisfied customers have come to us after working with other drug information vendors and finding their databases difficult to work with and their customer service unresponsive.
Sometimes "How" is as important as "What"
Many drug information vendors can promise drug-drug interaction checking, drug-allergy interaction checking, and other required clinical decisions support functions. But once the developers get into the guts of the medication lists and supporting tables, will they be pulling their hair out and wasting precious days trying to make sense of awkward data structures?
That's why the secret to a fast deployment and better product often requires listening to the IT department. If they don't like what they see, then it's time to look for a new solution. At Lexicomp, we also have many customers who included numerous drug information vendors in their up-front analysis. This allowed them to save time by not going down the wrong path to begin with -- their IT department was able to review sample files ahead of time and make a recommendation that resulted in greater speed to market.
When choosing a drug information provider, listen to the people on your staff who will need to work with the data every day! If you ignore their suggestions, then don't be surprised when development is slow and functionality lags behind.
At Lexicomp, we have helped many EMRs implement clinical decision support systems and prepare for (and then pass!) ONC-ATB certification. Several of our satisfied customers have come to us after working with other drug information vendors and finding their databases difficult to work with and their customer service unresponsive.
Sometimes "How" is as important as "What"
Many drug information vendors can promise drug-drug interaction checking, drug-allergy interaction checking, and other required clinical decisions support functions. But once the developers get into the guts of the medication lists and supporting tables, will they be pulling their hair out and wasting precious days trying to make sense of awkward data structures?
That's why the secret to a fast deployment and better product often requires listening to the IT department. If they don't like what they see, then it's time to look for a new solution. At Lexicomp, we also have many customers who included numerous drug information vendors in their up-front analysis. This allowed them to save time by not going down the wrong path to begin with -- their IT department was able to review sample files ahead of time and make a recommendation that resulted in greater speed to market.
When choosing a drug information provider, listen to the people on your staff who will need to work with the data every day! If you ignore their suggestions, then don't be surprised when development is slow and functionality lags behind.
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