Maryland Lt. Gov. Rutherford to Meet with Healthcare Leadership at DrFirst to Tackle the Opioid Crisis through Compliance with the Coming PDMP Mandate

State officials, MedChi leaders, University of Maryland School of Dentistry, CRISP, and DrFirst executives will focus on innovative approaches to tackling the opioid crisis

News provided by

DrFirst

Mar 14, 2018, 12:46 ET

ROCKVILLE, Md., March 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- DrFirst, the nation's leading provider of e-prescribing and medication management solutions, announced today that Maryland Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford, members of the governor's office, MedChi leaders, the Maryland State Medical Society, and Dr. Mark Reynolds, dean of the University of Maryland School of Dentistry (UMSOD) and periodontist at the school's clinics, will meet at the company's Rockville headquarters on March 16. During the visit, Lt. Gov. Rutherford will learn how DrFirst is fighting the opioid epidemic in conjunction with MedChi, Maryland's medical society, UMSOD, and CRISP, the state's Health Information Exchange and authorized agent for its Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP).

The Lt. Gov.'s visit is particularly important given the imminence of the PDMP check mandate. Starting July 1, 2018, Maryland will join 40 states to require healthcare providers to view medication history via an online PDMP registry before prescribing opioids. The collaboration between DrFirst and CRISP streamlines the required PDMP check by delivering fast and easy access to the database directly within the e-prescribing workflow. Twenty-five states currently make PDMP integration available through DrFirst.

In addition to Lt. Gov. Rutherford, participants in the upcoming event will include members of Governor Larry Hogan's staff, the Maryland Department of Health, MedChi executives, and Dean Mark Reynolds from the University of Maryland School of Dentistry.

WHEN:	Friday, March 16

TIME:	1:30 p.m. ET

PLACE:	9420 Key West Avenue
	Suite 101
	Rockville, MD 20850

"We are delighted to host this visit by Lt. Gov. Rutherford and bring together this impressive group of community healthcare leaders to drive substantive change in opioid prescribing," said G. Cameron Deemer, president of DrFirst. "The power of integrating PDMP query directly into e-prescribing workflow simplifies the process and facilitates informed prescribing. By lowering the barrier to prescribers viewing their patients' medication histories before prescribing powerful opioids, we can make significant strides in our fight against opioid overprescribing while continuing to treat patient pain appropriately."

In 2015, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan formed a Heroin and Opioid Emergency Task Force, chaired by Lt. Gov. Rutherford. The task force developed 33 recommendations, including mandatory registration of all prescribers in the state PDMP.

About DrFirst
DrFirst, the nation's leading provider of e-prescribing 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, more than 170,000 healthcare professionals and more than 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), which 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