WESTWOOD, MA – Healthcare information systems vendor MEDITECH is adding e-prescribing and medication reconciliation to its portfolio through an alliance with DrFirst.
The deal, announced on January 4, will add Rockville, Md.-based DrFirst’s Rcopia Engine Services to MEDITECH’s hospital-based CPOE software, giving hospitals access to patient medication histories, streamlining the medication reconciliation process and speeding the patient’s transition from the hospital to an outpatient setting.
“It actually improves the continuum of care,” said Lawrence O’Toole, manager of business relation for Westwood, Mass.-based MEDITECH. “This will be a solution that first nicely into both environments.”
O’Toole said MEDITECH and DrFirst have been working for close to two years to align their products for easy implementation and expect to roll out the product to hospitals soon. A public launch is scheduled for HIMSS08 this February in Orlando, Fla.
The alliance is expected to provide hospitals with electronic prescription management data and patient medication histories through DrFirst’s connections with SureScripts and RxHub. By integrating that data with MEDITECH’s healthcare information systems (HCIS) software, O’Toole said, hospitals will be able to access patient medication histories, including insurance eligibility and drug interaction information, and create a complete patient record that can used in the hospital, then passed on to the post-acute care provider. In addition, the alliance provides hospitals and their affiliated care networks with electronic access to more than 30,000 pharmacies nationwide.
“DrFirst is excited to work with MEDITECH to bring electronic prescribing and medication reconciliation to physicians in the hospital care setting,” said G. Cameron Deemer, DrFirst’s president, in a press release. “Between our integration with MEDITECH and the integration we offer with MEDITECH partner LSS Data Systems for the ambulatory setting, our alliance will enable a new level of coordinated care for MEDITECH hospital clients.”
The alliance also boosts MEDITECH’s foray into home-based care, highlighted by the company’s April 2007 acquisition of Atlanta-based Patient Care Technologies, Inc. (PtCT), a provider of home care, hospice, telehealth, private duty and benchmarking software.
“That market is very much on the company’s mind,” said Paul Berthiaume, MEDITECH’s public relations manager.
O’Toole said the company’s new medication management and e-prescribing tools will fit nicely into its portfolio of services for homecare and post-ambulatory care settings, including the management of chronic diseases.