ePrescribing Pilot Project Overview

Building on the successful eClinician Primary Care Information Project, DOHMH is working with CDN to perform an ePrescribing Pilot Project. The ePrescribing Pilot Project explores the utility of using PDA and desktop computers to safely and securely
prescribe pharmaceuticals. It is estimated that up to 98,000 Americans die from medical
errors annually (Institute of Medicine, 2000 report). Many of these adverse events are
associated with the use of pharmaceuticals, and are potentially preventable.

The IOM estimates the number of lives lost to preventable medication errors alone represents over 7,000 deaths annually. A wide body of research, including many studies funded by AHRQ, supports the IOM conclusions. By computerizing the prescription order entry process, the ePrescribing system will eliminate many of the factors that contribute to medication errors including poor handwriting and inaccurate dosing. In addition to improving patient safety, electronic prescribing will help clinicians increase patient safety, save time, reduce pharmacy and patient callbacks and improve office efficiency. During an emergency, this process will also assist providers in identifying the proper pharmaceuticals to treat patients who may have been exposed to a WMD agent.

CDN and DOHMH interviewed existing electronic prescribing software companies and
selected a vendor (Allscripts) based on their product, ePrescribing market share and
previous experience working with other health centers. Also, based on the assessments done in terms of practice management systems, technical support, location, patient population and provider expertise with computers and PDAs, four Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) have been selected to participate in this pilot project. Allscripts provides electronic prescribing licenses to 40 primary care providers from these four health centers for a period of one year. These providers have been asked to write their prescriptions using the electronic prescribing tool they received. Prior to providing the eRx tool, CDN has ensured that the providers are comfortable with their PDAs and computers in general. The ePrescribing vendor prepares monthly summaries of provider utilization that will be shared with DOHMH and CDN. Pre and post usage survey tools have been developed by the Columbia University Department of Biomedical Informatics to measure the provider satisfaction and to identify the barriers to eRx adoption in these health centers.

Based on the success of this pilot project, this project will be extended to all the
community health centers in New York City. The four FQHCs participating in this pilot project are:

• Morris Heights Health Center (Bronx, NY),
• Joseph P. Addabbo Family Health Center (Arverne, NY),
• Brownsville Multi-Service Center for Family Health (Brooklyn, NY),
• Community Health Network (Manhattan, NY).

The ePrescribing vendor selected for this initiative is Allscripts, www.allscripts.com (Chicago, IL). Allscripts is the provider of clinical software, connectivity, and information solutions for
more than 20,000 physicians across the country. Their award-winning solutions helps
connect physicians to each other and to the entire community of care including patients,
hospitals, labs, and pharmacies, providing a more seamless patient experience. Allscripts
is comprised of three business groups with leaders and innovators in the markets they
serve- Clinical Solutions Group, Physicians Interactive Group and Medication Services
Group. ePrescribing product is managed by Clinical solutions group. Laurie McGraw,
President of the Clinical Solutions Group, has a ten-year tenure working with IDX and
she recently served on the 2004 Board of Examiners for the Baldrige National Quality
Program. Allscripts has strategic partnership with companies like IDX systems,
Microsoft, HP, Intel, Cisco and Labcorp.

ePrescribing Product Overview: Touch Script
Their award-winning TouchScript e-prescribing solution is the industry's most trusted
and widely used e-prescribing software in the United States today. About 55% of
electronic prescriptions are being written using TouchScript, available for Pocket PC's,
desktop, laptop and Tablet computers. It won the honors in TEPR (Towards Electronic
Patient Record) eHealth awards for the years 2004 and 2005.
Allscipts major strengths are their proven track record, experience working with other
health centers with similar work flow, partnership with market leaders like Microsoft,
about 55% market share in ePrescription products, in-depth understanding of pocket PCs,
customized report generation capabilities.