With SmartRenewal, DrFirst Takes Aim at the Dangers of Entering Medication Renewals by Hand

With SmartRenewal, DrFirst Takes Aim at the Dangers of Entering Medication Renewals by Hand 

New Solution for Ambulatory Care Wins Innovation Award for Use of Artificial Intelligence to Safely Translate and Prepopulate Prescription Details 

Rockville, Md. – Jan. 11, 2023 – Healthcare technology pioneer DrFirst today announced the release of its latest patient safety innovation aimed at closing data automation gaps that have long frustrated healthcare providers by making routine prescription renewals tedious and time consuming to complete in the electronic health record (EHR). 

SmartRenewal uses DrFirst’s patented AI technology to automate the transcription of medication instructions (known as “sigs”) into the terminology used by health systems, significantly cutting down on the manual clicks and keystrokes that can lead to medication errors and contribute to provider burnout. The new solution has been named a winner in the 2023 BIG Innovation Awards presented by the Business Intelligence Group, and judged by a select group of business leaders and executives who volunteer their time and expertise to score submissions. 

“We built SmartRenewal to solve a critical industry challenge that contributes to inaccurate medication data and threatens patient safety,” said G. Cameron Deemer, CEO of DrFirst. “When ambulatory providers can safely confirm and renew a prescription with up to 95% fewer clicks and keystrokes, health systems have more efficient workflows and fewer medication errors, as well as more satisfied clinicians who spend less time on data entry and more time providing care to patients.”  

With SmartRenewal, DrFirst is leveraging its success in improving medication safety in the hospital and emergency care settings to make a similar transformation in the ambulatory space, where providers—clinicians, nurses, and medical assistants—initiate 80% of all prescriptions in the United States. Health systems in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania have integrated SmartRenewal with their Epic and MEDITECH EHRs to simplify the renewal process by automatically populating prescription details in their workflows and greatly reducing the need for manual entry of data that could impact patient safety and delay patient care.  

SmartRenewal joins DrFirst’s SmartSuite of AI solutions, which has been improving the quality of medication records since 2015 and now processes an average of 15 million records per day. The new solution helps give a common terminology to patient medication data as it passes between health systems, pharmacies, and medical offices. SmartRenewal’s AI improves its performance over time by learning to translate, structure, and codify medication data with greater speed and efficiency. 

SmartRenewal is Surescripts certified for prescription renewals. In addition to the BIG Innovation Award, the new technology also was selected as a Best in Class Quarterfinalist in the New EHR Innovation category of the UCSF Digital Health Awards, which honor outstanding health technologies and innovations that are dramatically transforming healthcare. 

About DrFirst
Since 2000, DrFirst has pioneered healthcare technology solutions and consulting services that securely connect people at touchpoints of care to improve patient outcomes. We create unconventional solutions that solve care collaboration, medication management, price transparency, and adherence challenges faced in healthcare. We unite the Healthiverse—the interconnected healthcare universe—by providing our clients with real-time access to the information they need, exactly when and how they need it, so patients get the best care possible. DrFirst solutions are used by nearly 325,000 healthcare professionals, including more than 220,000 prescribers, 70,000 pharmacies, 300 EHRs and health information systems, and 1,500 hospitals in the U.S. and Canada. To learn more, visit www.DrFirst.com and follow @DrFirst. 

Media Contact
Katlyn Nesvold 
Amendola Communications for DrFirst 
715-559-0046
knesvold@acmarketingpr.com