Measure:
The eligible professional has enabled this functionality for the entire EHR reporting period.
Clinical Importance
Certified EHRs with the drug interaction checks enabled gives real-time information on possible interactions at the time of ordering, minimizing the potential for adverse events or pharmacy call-backs. With many patients taking nutritional supplements, having medications provided from multiple providers, or allergies to certain medications – having a drug interaction check provides better clinical decisions by displaying alerts on drug-allergy, drug-frequency, drug-drug, drug-renal function, drug-laboratory, and drug-age which can improve the safety and effectiveness of medication.
Lessons from the Field
It is important to understand that an active medication list drives key functions such as drug-drug and drug-allergy interactions, various clinical quality measures as well as provides for the ability to query patients based on current medications for recall purposes. Field staff have observed that this understanding can be a key motivator to maintain active medications in a structured format.