The Delaware Division of Professional Regulation is enabling EHR integration of prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) data to ensure safer prescribing practices across the state.
The state of Delaware will utilize Appriss Health’s PMP Gateway solution, which is a real-time platform that aims to enable Delaware’s PDMP information and make it accessible to providers across the state.
Clinicians across Delaware can utilize the platform to monitor opioid prescriptions without the added administrative burden of logging into multiple windows to access prescription data.
The Delaware Prescription Monitoring Program said Delaware Division of Professional Regulation is covering all integration fees between state health systems and the vendor. The goal is to ensure adoption across the state in an effort to meet state policies and mandates regarding controlled substances.
“Delaware currently has the second-highest drug overdose death rate in the United States, and the ongoing opioid crisis has created a colossal challenge for the state’s behavioral health treatment providers,” Jason Slavoski, Pharm.D., administrator of the Delaware Prescription Monitoring Program, said in a statement.
“This statewide partnership with Appriss Health improves our PMP’s efficacy to help mitigate the opioid epidemic in our communities. Through PMP Gateway, all providers throughout the state will have easier access to new resources and PMP information within their clinical workflow. This integration helps to enhance timely clinical support decisions and improve patient care and safety for all Delaware residents.”
A PDMP is a state-run electronic database that collects data from pharmacies on Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) controlled substances and prescription drugs dispensed to patients. Prescribers use PDMPs each time they write prescription. This then creates a record for the patient so that healthcare providers are able to understand a patient’s full prescription drug history.
The EHR tool aims to improve prescribing practices, target treatment to at-risk patients, and mitigate the risk of potential abuse or fraud by patients who obtain prescriptions from multiple providers. Providers can review the data prior to prescribing opioids to intervene if there are signs of misuse or abuse.
Overdose rates have quadrupled between 1999 and 2015, forcing the hand of 49 states to implement a PDMP platform.
Prior to this partnership, Delaware PDMP users had to utilize separate systems to access patient information, resulting in administrative burden. Following EHR integration, the patient information can be accessed through the PDMP on one, simple interface within the EHR.
According to a 2019 ONC blog post, only one-in-three hospitals can access PDMP data within its EHR system.
ONC’s analysis of the 2017 American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Survey highlighted the integration between EHRs and PDMPs that provide hospitals with patient-specific prescription information.
ONC said the data from the survey provides the first evidence of how hospitals are accessing the PDMP data.
Per a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) study, enhanced user interfaces and health IT integration are addressing the past PDMP issues. The use of content and vocabulary standards, along with standards-based health information exchange may also facilitate the integration of the PDMP data into a longitudinal care record, said the ONC.
“I have to say that this is probably one of the more genius moves of the 21st century… having easy access to the PDMP without going to a totally different website and have it pop up instantly has taken a lot of time off of decision making for me,” said an anonymous emergency department physician to ONC.
In 2018, the use of PDMPs became more prevalent and mandatory in an increasing number of states. EHR integration and health IT was crucial aspect of this process.
Source: EHR Intelligence