News Feature | October 30, 2014

EHR + HIE = 90% Medication Accuracy

Katie Wike

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

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EHRs have a better rate of medication accuracy when paired with a community HIE.

Alone, electronic health records (EHRs) at two sample hospitals achieved 80 percent medication accuracy. According to a recent study published in the American Journal of Managed Care, connecting these EHRs to a community HIE brought that accuracy to over 90 percent.

EHR Intelligence reports the 80 percent accuracy rating before the introduction of the HIE is already high since at these hospitals, the EHRs had been in place since 1989 and were mature. Clinicians also had access to a medication database as a second source and the community HIE served as the third source for medication information.

According to the iHealth Beat:

● the EHRs captured 80 percent of patients' medications accurately

● the commercial medication database accurately captured 45 percent

● the HIE accurately captured 37 percent

● together, these sources accurately captured 91 percent of medications

“Giving providers access to information that is accurate and complete during the prescribing process may improve patient safety by improving patients’ recall of their own medication history and allergy information, as well as by reducing medication discrepancies,” the researchers wrote.  “Combining at least 2 sources of medication history information resulted in largely complete and accurate information for classes of medications identified by others as associated with high risk for preventable ADEs, including hypoglycemic and blood flow medications.”

ADE prevention is critical for hospitals and medication accuracy is at its core. One study found unintended errors in the records of 70 percent of the patients it reviewed. Adopting Meaningful Use medication management measures can also reduce adverse events. Another study found that hospitals which have adopted certain medication measures of MU have seen a 52 percent reduction in ADEs.

Researchers concluded, “Medication history information pooled from various sources is an innovative type of health information exchange that can facilitate medication reconciliation and decrease discrepancies, thereby improving patient safety.”