MEDS-ED Link, a joint project of GE Healthcare, the Inova Health System and the Northern Virginia Regional Health Organization (NovaRHIO), has begun providing the emergency departments at Inova hospitals with online access to patient medication histories. The first Inova facility to use this new resource is Inova Alexandria Hospital in Alexandria, Va.
Physicians who prescribe electronically have long had access to a database containing medication data from some PBMs and health plans. In addition, Surescripts, which provides the access to that database and also links physician offices online with pharmacies, can supply medication histories from many of those drug stores, which include about 85 percent of U.S. pharmacies.
Through a secure pathway, MEDS-ED Link queries those sources, and also sends information requests directly to pharmacies and payers. Ryan Bosch, CMIO of Inova Health System, tells Healthcare IT News that he expects the system to yield results for eight of 10 patients who present in the ED. If so, that's more than is currently available from Surescripts alone.
MEDS-ED Link enables responses to its queries to go straight into an ED's EMR, placing the data in the context of the note and the patient care environment.
"The system has been designed to be compatible with emergency department workflows where time is of the essence," explained Earl Jones, vice president and general manager of GE Healthcare's eHealth business. "We see this as a strong first step in our pledge to provide innovative information technologies to make fully functional health data exchange a reality in northern Virginia and beyond."
The business plan for MEDS-ED Link includes expansion to other Inova emergency departments, as well as the EDs of other NovaRHIO members.
For more information:
- read this Healthcare IT News piece
- check out this GE press release