FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  January 27, 2017

MEDIA CONTACT: Monica Buchanan, Director of Corporate Communications
                                     (860) 837-5701; mbuchanan@connecticutchildrens.org
                                    

                                     Lora Rae Anderson, Department of Consumer Protection
                                     (860) 247-8711; lorarae.anderson@ct.gov

 

Hartford, Conn. - Connecticut Children’s Medical Center has become the first healthcare organization in the state to have successfully integrated the hospital’s electronic health records system with the state prescription drug database.

As we are all aware, prescription drug abuse continues to receive local and national attention. Legislation requires prescribing providers review a patient’s controlled substance dispensation history prior to prescribing controlled medications for longer than 72 hours.

This accomplishment is evidence of Connecticut Children's commitment to patient safety and compliance with prescription drug monitoring.  “We are proud to take the lead on this initiative in the state of Connecticut. The important integration makes it easier for our providers to do the right thing for our patients,” said Chief Medical Information Officer, Dr. Richelle DeMayo.  “Integration improves both patient safety and provider efficiency, enabling providers to fulfill their duties in the context of their normal workflows and allowing clinical staff to focus their informed attention on delivering excellent patient care.”

Connecticut Children’s can now more easily provide our physicians access to controlled substance prescription histories in real-time, at the point-of-care to improve patient safety and prevent overprescribing.  Without this integration, prescribers need to log into the PDMP separately to retrieve a patient's controlled substance dispensations and then cross-reference that data with a patient's other health information in our electronic health record. 

deMayo also notes the prevention of prescription drug misuse and abuse is a matter of enormous personal and public health significance that demands collaboration across settings.   “Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and our providers are excited to lead the way for others in the state to make responsible use of available information to protect patients and families from overdose and drug diversion,” said deMayo. “We are proud to work with the State of Connecticut to make it easier for physicians and other prescribers to do the right thing.”

“We’re pleased to congratulate Connecticut Children’s Medical Center on this great accomplishment. One of the top priorities of our Drug Control Division at the Department of Consumer Protection is making sure prescribers have the up to date and accurate information they need to make the best decisions possible for their patients. The Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) allows prescribers to have that information in real time when they need it,” said Consumer Protection Commissioner Jonathan A. Harris, “Since the PDMP began collecting data in 2008, the state has enacted a series of common sense updates to the program to promote its use and improve the user experience. Many of the changes were based on feedback from the prescribers who use the PDMP every day. We look forward to continuing our productive relationship with the medical community to make sure patients in the Connecticut get the best care possible.”

“Connecticut Children’s Medical Center has taken a major step towards ensuring the best standard of care for its patients,” said Robert Cohen, President, Appriss Health. “We applaud the forward-thinking leadership within Connecticut Children’s for taking a proactive approach to becoming the first hospital in Connecticut to deploy clinical workflow integration of PDMP data and clinical decision support solutions for substance use disorder within their EHR.”

The benefits of EHR integration and Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) interoperability have long been recognized by Brandeis University's PDMP Center of Excellence (COE). The September 2012 Guidance of PDMP Best Practices recognizes that "integrating PDMP data retrieval with health information exchanges (HIE), electronic health records (EHR), and pharmacy dispensing systems should help reduce the time and effort needed for prescribers and their staff and for pharmacists to access a patient's prescription history." (http://www.pdmpexcellence.org/). The report further details that integration will maximize both the number of users (prescribers and dispensers) receiving the information and the utility for each of those users.

 

Prescribers with questions or concerns regarding the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program may contact the Drug Control Division at dcp.pmp@ct.gov or (860) 713-6073.

 

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About Connecticut Children’s Medical Center
Connecticut Children’s Medical Center is the only hospital in Connecticut dedicated exclusively to the care of children. Connecticut Children’s is a nationally recognized, not-for-profit with a medical staff of more than 1,000 providing comprehensive, world-class health care in more than 30 pediatric specialties and subspecialties. Connecticut Children’s Medical Center is the primary pediatric teaching hospital for the UConn School of Medicine and Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University as well as a research partner of Jackson Laboratory. Connecticut Children’s Office for Community Child Health is a national leader in community-based prevention and wellness programs. To learn more about Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, please visit connecticutchildrens.org.