The final rule for Meaningful Use has several categories regarding medications:
- ePrescribing
- Active Medication List
- Active Medication Allergy List
- Electronic Copy of Health Information
- Exchange Key Clinical Information
- Implement Drug-formulary checks
- Medication Reconciliation
To accomplish these features in a meaningful way you will need a comprehensive medication terminology provider. There are many providers to choose from.
How to choose the right provider?
We had a project recently where we needed to help our customer choose which provider was best. Our priorities were as follows:
Trial period
- Does the company offer up the data for us try before we buy?
API (.NET / Java)
- Drug Databases are generally extremely normalized and complicated to navigate. It would save us time if the company offered an API.
Cost
- What does the product cost per user? Is there an upfront licensing fee? Does the API cost extra?
Reliability
- How often do we receive updates?
- What happens when drugs are discontinued?
- How is the database distributed?
Customer Service
- How smart are the sales people?
- Do they understand my needs?
- What is their response time for getting back to me?
Flexibility
- What will they do for me?
- How do I request features?
- Can I talk directly with the experts?
I spoke with several vendors and was quite annoyed by their secrecy. I felt like a competitor rather a potential customer. One vendor told me they would call me back and never did. Another vendor wouldn’t let me review the entire product.
After working through my “needs checklist” I found a company called Lexi-Comp. They had smart people that answered my call on the first attempt. The API is simple and fast. The product cost was reasonable and tailored to my customers’ business model. I walked away with an API w/sample code and data. The product is distributed via FTP and updated often. If you’re looking for an experienced medication terminology provider for your application then I highly recommend Lexi-Comp.
