Integrated PDMP to help physicians address the opioid crisis

The opioid crisis in the United States is continuously growing with 38 people, on average, dying everyday due to overdose of prescription drugs. PDMP has now become mandatory in almost all states. In this article we will help physicians understand how integrating PDMP with e-prescription platform will enhance patient care.

PDMP is Prescription Drug Monitoring Database which is a state-specific controlled substance prescription monitoring electronic database. It helps the users access the prescription database of their patients like identify patients who are obtaining opioids from multiple providers, and hence make informed decisions. Physicians can calculate the total amount of opioids being prescribed to the patient and also identify any other substances that are being prescribed to their patient that increase the risk of opioids.

Almost all states in the United States, now require physicians to query PDMP before prescribing controlled substances. Even if a state doesn’t mandate querying PDMP, it is critical for patient care when prescribing controlled substances. It can also help physicians qualify for bonus payments under Medicare’s MIPS. Hence it is advisable for all physicians or prescribers to consult with state’s legal authorities regarding all non-federal mandates regarding prescription drug control, tracking, and monitoring.

Now the biggest challenges that the physicians face is that PDMP has a separate access from EHR. This means they have to log-in separately into PDMP and then manually enter the data from PDMP into their EHR. This disjointed system results in inefficiency and ultimately causes negative patient experience. How new age EHRs like Elixir are solving this issue is by directly integrating their EHR system with state specific PDMPs to make the information available to the physician at the point of care. This removes the necessity to search patient’s prescription history. This makes the care process more much more streamlined hence saving physician’s time from dealing with disjointed technology. When compared to standard PDMP, integrated access is approximately 3 times faster. Physicians receive alerts for drug allergies, interactions, and formularies. They can also intervene at the earliest signs of substance abuse. Finally, it enhances security and compliance. Integrated PDMP access ensures compliance with DEA, state, and federal requirements.

The following tips will help Physicians make the most of integrated PDMP:

• Perform bulk searches, if possible, to save time.
• Consider delegating PDMP access to authorized individuals who can collect data on behalf of the prescriber to save time and to alleviate physicians from diverting their attention from clinical duties. For example, front desk personnel may be able to check the PDMP as part of a patient’s pre-visit planning to identify patients that require additional screening and minimize unnecessary testing.
• Consider accessing the PDMP to review all patients’ scheduled drug usage even when not planning to prescribe a controlled substance. This helps physicians proactively identify opportunities for patient education and other types of interventions when needed.

How Elixir does do better?

Elixir’s unparalleled integration capabilities allow Elixir to be integrated with pharmacy and provider integrators like Surescripts, Change Healthcare etc. These systems are directly integrated in Elixir, hence removing the need for hoping between different screens. The electronic prescription application allows providers to save time and improve patient safety by connecting directly to pharmacies to enable secure prescription generation and routing. What more can Elixir do?

• Help improve patient safety by using automated drug interaction checking, including integrated drug-drug, drug-allergy, and duplicate therapy screening.
• Support minimized patient wait times by routing prescriptions electronically along all healthcare touchpoints.
  Prescribe the most cost-effective, clinically appropriate medicine by relying on clear electronic exchanges and choosing from an automated list of formulary alternatives.
• Reduce legibility errors and minimize medication mistakes by securely generating and routing standardized electronic prescriptions.

All the integrations with Elixir either PDMP or surescripts or any other system, work seamlessly to provide consistent data to the physician hence improving patient care.

Elixir Practice Management Suite is a comprehensive solution consisting of four modules that fit rightly into your healthcare business irrespective of your facility size and type. The Elixir Contact Center module helps manage the entire facility census and the patient intake process. At the same time, the Elixir EHR solution aims at delivering an end-to-end seamless patient care experience. The third module is Elixir Billing, and it effectively fetches data from any EHR platform to process medical claims and manages the entire revenue cycle. Elixir Patient Portal is the last module, and it provides an integrated experience for the patients.

Do fill out this contact form if you feel that Elixir will be an asset to your system.