DoseSpotâ„¢ Opens the Call for Non-Profit Healthcare Organization Nominations

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DoseSpot, an industry leader in electronic prescribing (e-Prescribing) integration platforms for medical and dental software, today announced that nominations are now being accepted for 501(c)(3) non-profit healthcare organizations engaged in meaningful work and in need of e-Prescribing software. Nominations can be submitted at http://www.DoseSpot.com/doesthrough January 15, 2014 as part of DoseSpot Does, an ongoing initiative to recognize and reward awesome 501(c)(3) non-profit healthcare organizations.

“We are excited for this holiday season’s DoseSpot Does campaign to bring e-Prescribing software to organizations that deliver a lasting impact on their patients,” said Greg Waldstreicher, President, DoseSpot. “I encourage you to nominate any 501(c)(3) non-profit healthcare organization that fits this criteria. Whether you encountered their exceptional work as a patient, employee, volunteer or through word of mouth, we want to know about the experience.”

DoseSpot Does recipients will receive DoseSpot e-Prescribing software, equipped to:

• Safely and efficiently send prescriptions electronically to more than 65,000 pharmacies
• Automatically check for dangerous drug-drug and drug-allergy interactions
• Aggregate prescription history data from community pharmacies in addition to patient medication claims history from payers and pharmacy benefit managers
• Request information on patient insurance eligibility and formulary at the time of prescribing

DoseSpot Does nomination forms are available at http://www.DoseSpot.com/does for electronic submission. The three winning 501(c)(3) non-profit healthcare organizations will be selected based on merit and the number of nominations submitted. Nominations are being accepted through midnight on January 15, 2014. The three winners of DoseSpot’s e-Prescribing software will be announced the last week of January 2014.

For more information and to cast your vote, visit http://www.DoseSpot.com/does. Follow @DoseSpot athttp://www.Twitter.com/DoseSpot for updates on DoseSpot Does.

About DoseSpot
DoseSpot is a Surescripts™ certified e-Prescribing platform specifically designed to integrate with electronic health record, practice management, and telehealth software. DoseSpot has provided affordable and integratable e-Prescribing solutions to more than 45 medical & dental software companies since 2009. For more information, please visit http://www.DoseSpot.com.

Press release available at: http://www.prweb.com/releases/dosespot/does/prweb11411509.htm

Most Common e-Prescribing Questions Asked by Dentists

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We talked to a lot of dentists over the course of the three-day ADA Annual Session.  Between handing out our awesome #dosespotted t-shirts and providing demos, we fielded questions on all things e-Prescribing.  Below is a compilation of the questions most frequently asked and our attempt to answer them as enthusiastically as we do in person!

What exactly is e-Prescribing? e-Prescribing stands for electronic prescribing.  With e-Prescribing, dentists can route prescriptions electronically to the patient’s preferred pharmacy in addition to reviewing the patient’s medication history and insurance information.

What are the advantages of e-Prescribing? Where do we start?  In short, e-Prescribing saves time, increases efficiency and improves safety and security.  Dentists that e-Prescribe with DoseSpot can instantaneously route prescriptions, check for dangerous drug-drug and drug-allergy interactions and access dental specific medication information with the click of a button, to name a few.

What does ‘dental specific’ e-Prescribing mean? DoseSpot has an exclusive partnership with Lexicomp to provide dental specific medication information within the e-Prescribing workflow. This means dentists can access crucial medication information such as a medication’s effect on dental use & dental treatment, dental usual dosages, and many more! 

Can my office staff use it? Yes! With DoseSpot specifically, proxy accounts can be created that allow staff members to enter patient information and utilize a subset of features.

What are the next steps to getting e-Prescribing at my practice? We are glad you asked this one.  Just give us a call at (888)-847-6814 or visit DoseSpot.com/lexi

I’m not a dentist but am interested in learning more about e-Prescribing, what do I do? We have good news, we also integrate with both medical and telehealth software companies.  Call us, we’d love to talk to you.

Have we left any of your questions unanswered?  Feel free to tweet us any questions @DoseSpot or give us a ring (888)-847-6814.

e-Prescribing Utilization Continues to Increase

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e-Prescribing has been on a steady growth curve for the past decade and a new study by the American Journal of Managed Care reveals it has increased eight-fold over the past five years.  Survey results highlight the percentage of doctors, nurses and PA’s e-Prescribing in the U.S. has increased from seven percent in 2008 to 54 percent in 2012.  Specifically, the number of e-Prescribers increased from 47,000 to 398,000.

From 2008 to 2012, retail pharmacies e-Prescribing on the Surescripts network increased 24 percent to more than 59,000 pharmacies.  According to the Surescripts website, that number has increased further to 64,000 retail pharmacies and six of the largest mail order pharmacies nationwide.

With meaningful use, e-Prescribing utilization is expected to rise even more.  In conclusion, “this study shows positive emerging trends in electronic prescribing by demonstrating accelerated growth in adoption of electronic prescribing at both provider and pharmacy level.  Continuous efforts and focused investments can be expected to diminish most of the barriers to implementation in the future.”

Click here to read the full summary.

Meaningful Consent

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Healthcare providers have long advised patients on making informed care decisions.  Now, patients can rely on providers for guidance on how their electronic patient information is shared.   Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) launched, Meaningful Consent, a new site for physicians to better help their patients navigate health information exchange (HIE).  Resources featured include customizable tools, law and policy information, videos and tutorials.

Key background information:

• HIE is the way healthcare providers share and access health information using technology
• HIEs share patient information between participating healthcare providers regarding a patient’s health information for treatment and payment
• Patient education and engagement is important to help them understand their options and outcomes of each option

Meaningful Consent is important to improve healthcare information technology and educate patients on HIE to foster greater trust in physician communication and health technologies. As the trend grows and HIEs evolve, it’s vital to have both physicians and patients engaged and informed to improve care and health outcomes.

Read the HSS press release here.

Health Disparities to be Tackled in Meaningful Use Stage 3

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While EHR companies are working to meet Meaningful Use (MU) Stage 2 criteria, industry leaders have been collaborating to develop MU Stage 3 requirements.  Last week, the Consumer Partnership for eHealth published an action plan, Leveraging Meaningful Use to Reduce Health Disparities Plan, to leverage MU Stage 3 requirements to reduce health disparities.

According to Healthcare IT News, the proposed action plan:

1. Recommends that EHRs have the ability to stratify patients’ specific conditions by variables such as race, ethnicity, language, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status and disability status.
2. Calls for greater use of patient data collected and shared through devices such as smartphones.
3. Emphasizes the need to ensure that electronic health information is effectively communicated to patients, so they are better able to utilize its benefits.

The goal is to address health disparities as part of Stage 3 requirements resulting in improved health outcomes and measurement nationwide.  Notable statistics surrounding disparities highlighted in the action plan include:

• 58 million people ages five and older speak a language other than English at home
• 56 million people live with a disability
• Women account for 50.8 percent of the population
• The U.S. Hispanic population reached 50.5 million, increasing 43 percent from the year 2000 and accounting for over half of the total population increase in the U.S.

Medication Lists: Important for Prescribers and Patients

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Lists are a part of our daily lives, from to-do lists to grocery lists.  But what about maintaining an active medication list?

Having a personal medication list readily available is vital in the case of an emergency.  The FDA recommends people taking medication:

• Keep the list of your medications with you at all times and let a loved one know.
• Keep a list of your medications and dietary supplements with you at all times, such as in your wallet or purse, and keep a copy in your home.
• Share a copy of the medication list with a family member or friend, or let them know where you keep the list. In an emergency, that person will be able to inform your doctors of the medications and dietary supplements you use.

Make a medication list today and bring it with you to your next doctor’s appointment.  Knowing your medication regimen will allow physicians that e-Prescribe to check for drug and drug-allergy interactions as well as adverse drug reactions.  Get more tips from the FDA at http://www.fda.gov/forconsumers/consumerupdates/ucm096403.htm.

Checking For Drug Interactions

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Drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction checks are becoming a new standard in electronic health record and e-Prescribing solutions.  Interaction checks are required for meaningful use and are being used by more physicians every day.

Online drug-interaction checking tools are a great at home resource.  They evaluate both prescription and over the counter medication regimens including vitamins and supplements and flag all interactions in real-time.  As online resources continue to pop up, the latest being from CVS, we compiled a list below of valuable drug interaction tools to jumpstart your search:

• CVS
• Drugs.com
• Healthline
• Medscape
• Walgreens

e-Prescribing State By State – Texas

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Featured e-Prescribing State: Texas

Office Based Physicians e-Prescribing in Texas

Interested in another state’s e-Prescribing statistics? Just Contact DoseSpot.

Source: Surescripts State Progress Reports

Health IT in the Greater Boston Area

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DoseSpot is in the healthcare zone along with 9 other awesome health IT companies here in the Greater Boston area. Learn more about what we’re all up to!  

Athenahealth (Watertown, MA): Cloud-based services for EHR, practice management and care coordination.

Claricode (Waltham, MA): Medical software development and application integration services exclusively for the healthcare industry.

CoPatient (Waltham, MA): Web platform to help consumers identify and resolve medical billing errors and overcharges.

DoseSpot (Waltham, MA): Surescripts Certified e-Prescribing platform offering solutions to medical and dental software companies.

Eyenetra (Somerville, MA): Eye care platform enabling on-demand eye testing, remote access to vendors and providers through eye diagnostics on mobile phones.

Ginger.io (Cambridge, MA): Web-based dashboard for researchers and healthcare providers and a mobile phone app for patients.

iMD-soft (Needham, MA): Clinical information systems and EMRs for critical, perioperative and acute care.

iQuartic (Cambridge, MA): EHR analytics for risk profiling, disease management, and quality benchmarking.

QMedic (Cambridge, MA): Passive wearable sensing platform and personal emergency response solution that provides 24/7 connectivity between seniors and remote caregivers.

QuantiaMD (Waltham, MA): Free online community where practicing physicians share practical medicine.

…Congrats to this week’s DoseSpot #TuesdayTweetup winner Michael Planchart, @theEHRGuy.  Stay tuned for next week’s #TuesdayTweetup for another chance to be featured on eprescribing.org.

Meaningful Use: Stage 1 vs. Stage 2

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With Stage 2 right around the corner many EHRs, physicians, dentists, and other ‘eligible professionals’ are seeking guidance. So here it is! Today’s blog post features a Stage 1 vs. Stage 2 Comparison Table for 3 Meaningful Use Core Objectives.

More comparisons are coming…stay tuned!

….Congrats to last week’s DoseSpot #TuesdayTweetup winner @jasmith1437 and runner up @techydoc.

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Stage 1 Objective: CPOE

Use CPOE for medication orders directly entered by any licensed healthcare professional who can enter orders into the medical record per state, local and professional guidelines

Stage 1 Measure: CPOE

More than 30% of unique patients with at least one medication in their medication list seen by the EP have at least one medication order entered using CPOE

Stage 2 Objective: CPOE

Use computerized provider order entry (CPOE) for medication, laboratory and radiology orders directly entered by any licensed healthcare professional who can enter orders into the medical record per state, local and professional guidelines

Stage 2 Measure: CPOE

More than 60% of medication, 30% of laboratory, and 30% of radiology orders created by the EP during the EHR reporting period are recorded using CPOE

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Stage 1 Objective: e-Prescribing

Generate and transmit permissible prescriptions electronically (eRx)

Stage 1 Measure: e-Prescribing

More than 30% of unique patients with at least one medication in their medication list seen by the EP have at least one medication order entered using CPOE

Stage 2 Objective: e-Prescribing

Generate and transmit permissible prescriptions electronically (eRx)

Stage 2 Measure: e-Prescribing

More than 50% of all permissible prescriptions written by the EP are compared to at least one drug formulary and transmitted electronically using Certified EHR Technology

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Stage 1 Objective: Record Demographics

Record demographics: Preferred language, Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Date of birth

Stage 1 Measure: Record Demographics

More than 50% of all unique patients seen by the EP have demographics recorded as structured data

Stage 2 Objective: Record Demographics

Record demographics: Preferred language, Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Date of birth

Stage 2 Measure: Record Demographics

More than 80% of all unique patients seen by the EP have demographics recorded as structured data

Source: http://go.cms.gov/12r3Gsc