The Nebraska Health Information Initiative Selects DrFirst to Aggregate Statewide Prescription Records

ROCKVILLE, Md., July 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- DrFirst, the market leader in ePrescribing and medication management solutions, announced that it was selected by the Nebraska Health Information Initiative (NeHII) and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services to capture state prescription information and deliver it to Nebraska's enhanced Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) which began January 1, 2017. Unlike some state PDMPs, the focus in Nebraska is primarily around patient safety and outcomes. The inclusion of complete prescription data in the PDMP database enhances patient safety and helps combat the abuse of opioids by giving providers and pharmacists a more complete picture of a patient's medication history, allowing opioid use to be addressed in the overall context of the patient's care plan while also highlighting diversion or other patterns of abuse.

Ninety-one Americans die each day from opioid misuse, according to the Centers for Disease Control. To address this crisis, nearly every state electronically tracks the prescribing and dispensing of controlled drugs. By delivering prescription history, PDMPs give prescribers and pharmacists critical information regarding patients' prescription fill histories and help them identify patients who may be misusing prescription opioids, leaving them at risk for overdose. These patients may benefit from early interventions, including dosage tapering, alternate therapies and/or treatment for opioid abuse. 

"Having lost my sister as a result of a prescription drug overdose, it's heart-warming to consider the tremendous impact the state's PDMP will have on the lives of hundreds and thousands of Nebraska families," said Senator Sara Howard of Omaha who introduced the legislation creating the state's mandatory drug monitoring database. "By making narcotic prescription details available to every doctor and pharmacist, providers can identify patients who are potentially at risk of abuse or doctor shopping for medication. This program provides hope to any family who has ever been devastated by the loss of a loved one due to prescription drug abuse."

Starting this year, dispensed prescriptions for controlled substances are now tracked through the PDMP. As of January 1, 2018, Nebraska will be the first state to require the tracking of all dispensed prescriptions. DrFirst's functionality will facilitate a more complete medication record to help pharmacists and prescribers look for adverse drug-drug combinations and duplicate therapies. Functionality will alert providers of patients receiving several dispensed opioid prescriptions and identify overlapping dispensed prescriptions of opioids and benzodiazepines. The tracking of several dispensed opioid prescription medications and overlapping prescriptions identifies patients who may benefit from closer monitoring, the reduction or tapering of opioids, the prescribing of naloxone, or other measures that reduce the risk of overdose.

"NeHII is focused on sharing timely and accurate patient health information in a secure environment to improve patient care," said Deb Bass, CEO at NeHII. "DrFirst is working closely with us to deliver the functionality we need to further enhance our PDMP, provide a complete view of a patient's prescription history and the ability to catch potential red flags, including adverse reactions and opioid abuse."

DrFirst collects dispensed prescription details and makes them available through NeHII to all of Nebraska's prescribers and dispensers, including each of the state's 552 pharmacies and approximately 400 mail-order companies. Physicians and pharmacists will have access to these records at the point-of-care, allowing them to make more informed decisions for enhanced patient safety. This includes the ability to identify patients that may need opioid abuse intervention.

"Nebraska has taken a positive leap in becoming the first state to require information on all prescriptions as part of its PDMP and not solely controlled substances," said G. Cameron Deemer, president of DrFirst. "NeHII and DrFirst hold a shared commitment to technology innovation that improves medication reconciliation and enables care givers to make more informed decisions, which help save lives. We look forward to working with NeHII to ensure all prescription information is available state-wide with the analytics to make it actionable for all physicians and pharmacists."

About NeHII
NeHII, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with a public/private governance model that includes health care providers, payers, and the State of Nebraska. NeHII is a statewide Health Information Exchange designed to share clinical and administrative data among providers in Nebraska and neighboring states. NeHII's purpose is to achieve health care transformation through community betterment collaboration while protecting the security and privacy of medical information. The Nebraska PDMP is housed on the Health Information Exchange platform and managed in collaboration with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. For more information, please visit https://nehii.org.

About DrFirst
DrFirst, the nation's leading provider of ePrescribing and medication management solutions, enables stakeholders across the healthcare industry to intelligently utilize comprehensive real-time data and connectivity to increase their patient safety ratings, efficiency and profitability. Today, over 170,000 healthcare professionals and over 60% of Electronic Health Record vendors, depend on DrFirst's innovative software solutions to improve clinical workflows, expedite secure collaboration across a patient's care team and drive better health outcomes. The company's integrated technologies include its award-winning electronic prescribing platform, the most comprehensive medication history available, clinically specialized secure messaging, as well as patient medication adherence monitoring and benefits checking. In addition, DrFirst was the first to offer e-prescribing for controlled substances (EPCS), and is considered the industry standard for providers nationwide. For more information, please visit www.drfirst.com or connect with us @DrFirst.

DrFirst Media Contact:
Jenna Warner
Amendola Communications
480-664-8412 x 19
[email protected]

SOURCE DrFirst

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