May 21, 2008 – Rockville, MD — Goodall Hospital is pleased to announce that it has successfully linked community physicians with the hospital’s information network to efficiently obtain patient medication history, a key step toward meeting the Joint Commission’s requirement for medication reconciliation. Goodall’s innovative program involved providing subsidies to affiliated physicians for the purchase of DrFirst Rcopia e-prescribing licenses—a move that is encouraged by the recent revisions to the Stark laws. Goodall also partnered with DrFirst to make both these electronic prescription records and other sources of electronic medication history available within the hospital itself through the DrFirst Rcopia AcuteCare (Rcopia AC) medication history service. Through this comprehensive system, Goodall Hospital staff are able to query the physician network to obtain the medication history and allergies for a patient and present this information to a provider or staff member who completes the medication reconciliation process.
“Goodall has created an innovative ‘connected community’ by investing in technologies that serve patients, physicians, and the hospital itself. This solution not only assists Goodall in meeting important accreditation requirements, but also creates a safer care environment for patients,“ said G. Cameron Deemer, President of DrFirst. “Providers benefit, too, through a medication review process that provides a much more complete picture of their patients’ drug therapies. More information translates to fewer adverse drug events for patients.”
The staff of Goodall Hospital has already seen benefits from the technology. In the Emergency Department, providers who otherwise would not have access to prescription information from primary care providers—or who are faced with unresponsive patients—now receive clinically relevant records of both medication therapy and allergic reactions. In these situations, Rcopia AC has provided potentially life-saving information and assisted in avoiding adverse reactions.
“One area that posed a concern initially was that industry standard medication reconciliation databases were returning less than a 50% hit-rate for medication histories. Since that data was beyond our control, DrFirst recommended a re-directed focus on our own affiliated providers to build a community of care by using Rcopia to write electronic prescriptions,” said Charlie Caruso, CIO for Goodall Hospital. “The lifting of the Stark Laws allowed us to provide Rcopia to active practice-based providers, and since then we have achieved a far greater return on medication history queries and allergy information results.”
This project supported Goodall’s desire to invest in technology that supports their Electronic Health Records strategy. DrFirst was chosen because of their strategic partnerships with MEDITECH and LSS, as well as their e-prescribing and medication reconciliation capabilities. The Emergency Department was chosen to pilot this approach because of the department’s significant patient volumes and great need for this information. The solution has now rolled out to other departments within the hospital.
About Goodall Hospital
Goodall Hospital is a 53-bed acute care facility located in Sanford, Maine. In addition to inpatient services, the hospital offers excellent facilities for surgery, emergency medicine, radiology, laboratory, physical rehabilitation, occupational health, a pain management center, and more. The hospital also operates Goodall Express – the area’s newest walk-in center in Waterboro, Maine.
About DrFirst
DrFirst is a national provider of physician connectivity services through its award-winning Rcopia electronic prescription management system. Founded in 2000, DrFirst creates innovative services targeted to physicians in both ambulatory and acute care environments. With a strong emphasis on products that link physicians, patients, pharmacies, and payers, DrFirst works to lower healthcare costs while improving clinical outcomes. DrFirst solutions are widely integrated with practice management and electronic medical records software through its “Open Borders” program, and the company counts among its client base physician practices, major health plans, health systems, and EMR vendors.