Emory Healthcare – the most comprehensive academic health system in Georgia – recently announced that it is collaborating with healthcare technology pioneer DrFirst to help patients access and adhere to affordable, appropriate prescription medications for their health conditions and ailments. Research has shown that medication adherence is a primary determinant of success in patient outcomes. At the same time, non-adherence can lead to a worsening of diseases and disorders, increased healthcare costs, and even death.
Emory Healthcare has been using three medication management services offered within Fuzion by DrFirst. This software platform uses clinical-grade AI to streamline clinical workflows to boost workflow efficiency and medication adherence.
Medication history with clinical-grade AI provides the most comprehensive information available and eliminates the need for manual data entry in workflows. And this means patients will have less chance of adverse drug events, clinicians will have more complete data at the point of care, and pharmacists will save time on medication reconciliation – which is the process of making sure the list of medications for a patient matches what the patient is taking.
Prescription price transparency enables providers to know patients’ pharmacy benefits, including their out-of-pocket costs, before they leave the doctor’s office or hospital. And knowing these costs up front, with options to switch to an affordable therapeutic equivalent if too costly, saves time and money for patients. This increases medication adherence and means patients are less likely to abandon high-cost prescriptions at the pharmacy.
Coming soon – Automated messaging will alert patients when their clinician sends an electronic prescription to their pharmacy. And the HIPAA-compliant functionality will allow patients to review their prescription and pharmacy information, as well as get relevant educational information and financial savings for their medication.
Patients are going to automatically benefit from the prescription messaging when they opt-in for communications from Emory. And patients can choose to opt out of receiving text messaging alerts.
KEY QUOTES:
“The collaboration with DrFirst will put patients first in enhancing medication prescribing and management, from an encounter with the clinician to picking up the prescription at the pharmacy. These clinical solutions will assist our providers with their decisions in providing a higher level of care for our patients.”
— Alistair Erskine, MD, chief information and digital officer for Emory Healthcare
“For many patients, especially those with chronic conditions, taking their medications as prescribed is vital to positive health outcomes and staying out of the hospital. Technology can help by making clinical data more usable, removing friction from workflows, which assists clinicians and patients to achieve better medication outcomes.”
— G. Cameron Deemer, CEO of DrFirst
“Managing multiple medications and cost considerations can be challenging for patients when dealing with a chronic condition or sudden illness. Having these additional solutions in place will help identify and manage the best medications for every patient’s individual health journey.”
— Christy Norman, PharmD, vice president of pharmacy services for Emory Healthcare
