Technology is making it easier to both care for patients and keep a closer watch on prescription pain drug use.
Marshfield Clinic's electronic records unit, MCIS Inc., teamed up with Appriss, Inc., to include opiate prescription histories that are incorporated directly into a patient's electronic health records.
Dr. Eric Penniman is Marshfield Clinic's Medical Director for Primary Care. He says the Appriss features inside of their patient records makes it very easy to see who is getting what prescriptions before making treatment decisions and giving out new prescriptions.
"....Three months ago, Marshfield Clinic invested with another company to embed that information by pushing one button right in our electronic records, in the part that is actually prescribing the drugs, and so if I want to check on my patients, I push that button, and literally within seconds, the entire list of recent prescriptions and who prescribed them, and which pharmacy they picked them up comes up..."
Dr. Penniman says the system is fast, easy, and helps every patient stay on their care plan. He says it's real-time monitoring happening at the point of care.
MCIS has been working to develop and implement electronic health records for thirty years, and is the first ambulatory vendor in Wisconsin to integrate the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program into its patient records.
