In 2016, 24% of medication-related claims involved opioids. A recent study was released last week by a medical liability insurer, Coverys, that showed painkillers account for more medical-malpractice claims related to drug errors than any other drug class.
In more than a third of the opioid-related claims, the mistake occurred during the follow-up phase of prescribing. Prescribers continued to renew prescriptions without being able to monitor prescribing history from other physicians’ patients. They also weren’t able to track any changes in their clinical status to prescribe accordingly.
The rise of e-prescribing and electronic health record software hopes of significantly reduce medication errors. How? Real-time medication claims history allows the prescriber to see all prescriptions that were filled for the patient, including painkillers, within a two-year period. Physicians can monitor patient’s medication history to
1) prevent doctor shopping and
2) recognize the patient has been prescribed painkillers over an extended period and the symptoms continue.
RXNT|e-prescribing helps combat the opioid epidemic in the United States. Our automatic drug interactions checks and patient’s medication history directly within the e-Prescribing solution, physicians can easily see what medications their patients are prescribed.
To learn more about e-prescribing with RXNT, call us at 1-800-943-7968 Option 2, email us at [email protected] or click on “Learn More” below.
