Pharmacy HIT Integration: Building a Roadmap

Shelly Spiro, RPh, FASCP, Director of the Pharmacy e-Health Information Technology Collaborative, provided an overview of pharmacy Health Information Technology (HIT) during her presentation “The Roadmap for Pharmacy HIT Integration” on Friday at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) 24th Annual Meeting.

The Roadmap is an expansive document developed by members of the Pharmacy e-HIT Collaborative—an organization founded by 9 national pharmacy organizations representing more than 250,000 members in all practice settings—that provides guidance to policymakers, provider organizations, vendors, and payers who are involved in the integration of pharmacy HIT. Out of the 10 defined goals, three are focused on outlining the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) by pharmacists to ensure safe and effective use of medication; achieve integration of clinical data with e-prescribing systems; and advocate pharmacist recognition in existing programs and policies.

Next steps will involve a survey to rank and prioritize the 10 goals and to convene a focus group. The objective of the focus group will be to work on action plans to achieve the objectives and strategies outlined in the Roadmap. The Collaborative will begin to work on the objectives and strategies that fall under the Collaborative scope. Pharmacists are encouraged ot get involved by discussing the adoption of pharmacist EHR functionality with pharmacy management system vendors; taking an inter-professional team approach to EHR adoption in all practice settings; and participate in HIT initiatives with professional associations.

For more information on this and other sessions, please visit www.amcp.org.