There is a new online-based medication management tool designed to assist clinicians prescribing opioids with spotting and monitoring overprescribing, a growing issue in the medical community.
A provider of cloud-based technology for physician practices, AdvancedMD introduced AdvancedEPCS, ePrescribing technology that was developed to meet strict regulatory requirements for DEA class II-V narcotics. The company claims that its solution enables independent physicians to meet Electronic Prescriptions for Controlled Substances (EPCS) regulatory requirements with higher levels of security.
In order to help physicians prevent the overprescribing of opioids, AdvancedEPCS integrates into the electronic health record (EHR), auto-populating with prescription details and history directly into patient charts. “The prescribing physician receives a full audit history including fill and refill status,” Tracy Thornley, product manager for AdvancedMD, told Clinical Pain Advisor. “Details are easily and quickly accessible on any device regardless of physician geography or proximity to the office.”
AdvancedEPCS also offers linkage to the 14 000 certified pharmacies across 44 states and aims to improve security with 2-factor authentication.
The prescribing technology ties into state programs to improve the safety of opioid prescribing. “New York State (and others) are offering prescription monitoring programs to make it easier to spot over prescribing. AdvancedEPCS ties into the electronic pharmacy system that supports the PMP network, allowing physicians to more easily detect patients attempting to ‘doc shop’ for Schedule II-V narcotics,” Thornley said.
While physicians have always been able to track and monitor opiate prescriptions —whether approved on paper, orally, or electronically — AdvancedMD “researched the marketplace [and] found only a couple of premiere EPCS tools available,” Thornley told Clinical Pain Advisor.
“What makes [our technology] unique is the balanced integration with either our EHR or our PM products, giving physicians maximum flexibility. We give private practice physicians especially the same features and functionality of the larger health system products,” he added.