Identifying an important drug interaction

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has selected three ONC-Authorized Testing and Certification Bodies (ATCBs) that will be certifying electronic medical record systems that are capable of achieving meaningful use.  The three groups that have received this initial authorization are: Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT); Drummond Group; and InfoGard Laboratories.  These ATCBs will be using the previously announced meaningful use criteria to perform testing and certification.  This certification will announce to eligible providers that electronic health record technology has the capabilities necessary to meet the meaningful use Stage 1 criteria.

As vendors begin to apply for these certification programs it will be extremely important to have the mandatory clinical decision support functions in place to pass these certification tests.  This means that all EMRs will have to be able to demonstrate dosage range checking, drug interaction screening, duplicate therapy screening and drug allergy screening.  Given the fact that this mandatory clinical decision support functionality will be part of every system, the key to having an impact on clinical outcomes will depend on the drug information used within each system.  Clinicians have been relying on Lexi-Comp's drug dosing, drug interaction and drug therapy information for over 30 years to make drug therapy decisions and improve patient outcomes.  When it comes to selecting the content for your clinical decision support tools, why not choose the information that clinicians use every day?