Emory Healthcare and DrFirst partner on medication adherence
Emory Healthcare leverages three medication management services offered within Fuzion by DrFirst, a platform that provides physicians with medication history, to streamline physician workflows and improve medication adherence for their patients.
WHY IT MATTERS
Patients at Emory Healthcare may be less likely to experience side effects and know what they will pay for prescriptions at the pharmacy before leaving the doctor’s office or hospital with AI-powered insights.
DrFirst’s intelligent medication management platform can improve e-prescribing workflows with optimized clinical data usability. According to the company’s website, it can complete prior authorizations electronically and respond to claim denials.
With real-time data on prescription drug benefits and pricing data, physicians can talk to their patients about drug costs and switch to more affordable therapeutic equivalents. According to the company, physicians can minimize prescription non-prescription and improve health outcomes.
“For many patients, especially those with chronic conditions, taking their medications as prescribed is essential for positive health outcomes and staying out of the hospital,” DrFirst CEO G. Cameron Deemer said in the announcement.
According to DrFirst, accurate and more complete medication data also increases patient safety. Presenting 12 months of patient medication history can also streamline providers’ medication reconciliation processes, the company said. Drug alerts, drug allergy, dosage, and dual therapy also provide data for physicians at the point of care.
“Technology can help by making clinical data more actionable and removing friction in the workflow, helping physicians and patients achieve better medication outcomes.”
Emory Healthcare will also implement HIPAA-compliant automated patient messages in electronic prescription alerts. Patients will be able to view their prescriptions, receive relevant patient education information and more, the health systems said.
THE BIG TREND
Using AI to improve medication adherence has been shown to be effective and deliver clinical and financial returns.
UPMC Health System addressed medication nonadherence with a patient management platform that identifies and prioritizes patients who may be at risk. The AI-powered virtual assistant reaches patients via text or robocall messages to engage them before the first fill, between refills, and provides refill support.
“We have seen impacts in clinical outcomes, medication adherence, patient satisfaction and workforce efficiency,” said Kathryn Heffernan, director of product management at UPMC Enterprises. Healthcare IT news in March.
She said on-time refill rates have doubled.
“A retrospective study of more than 30,000 patients showed that those who used the chatbot and service were 32% less likely to have a seven-day readmission and 16% less likely to have a 30-day readmission,” added Rebecca Taylor, senior, please. director of pharmacy at UPMC
ON THE RECORD
“The partnership with DrFirst will put patients first in improving medication prescribing and management, from meeting with the doctor to picking up the prescription at the pharmacy,” said Dr. Alistair Erskine, chief information and digital officer for Emory Healthcare, said in a statement. “These clinical solutions will assist our healthcare providers in their decisions to provide a higher level of care to our patients.”
Andrea Fox is editor-in-chief of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.