The Basics

Electronic health records (EHRs) can help your organization prevent adverse medication events and improve patient outcomes in several ways. EHRs can:

• Make it easier to create, update, and maintain active medication lists and medication allergy lists
• Automatically check for problems whenever a new medication is prescribed and alert you to potential drug/drug and drug/allergy interactions
• Provide the information you need to perform medication reconciliation during transitions of care
• Generate and transmit prescriptions electronically, which means pharmacists and patients can reliably read handwriting and avoid potential errors

By helping you collect, update, maintain, and use information in meaningful ways, EHRs can help your organization avoid medication errors and improve patient outcomes.^1-4

Achieving Meaningful Use

One of the best ways to ensure you take full advantage of the benefits of electronic health records to prevent adverse medication events in your organization is to achieve meaningful use. Achieving the following meaningful use objectives will help you prevent adverse medication events and improve patient outcomes.

• Drug Interaction Checks
• e-Prescribing
• Active Medication List
• Medication Allergy List

Providers Like You

To learn about providers like you who are leveraging the benefits of electronic health records to prevent adverse medication events and improve patient outcomes, see the following provider story.

• Dr. Christopher Tashjian