Roadmap for Pharmacy HIT Integration

San Francisco—Beginning in October 2010, an advisory work group met to develop a Roadmap for pharmacists to follow to integrate health information technology (HIT) into their practice. The group included members from 9 professional pharmacy associations representing >250,000 members in all practice settings. Associate members of the advisory group included Surescripts, National Council for Prescription Drug Programs, RelayHealth, Mirixa, ScriptPro, and IQWare.

At the AMCP meeting in a Contemporary Issues session titled The Roadmap for Pharmacy HIT Integration, Shelly Spiro, RPh, FASCP, director, Pharmacy e-Health Information Technology Collaborative, gave a presentation on the Roadmap and outlined ways managed care pharmacists can use it to facilitate the adoption of electronic health records by pharmacists, and advocate recognition of the role of the pharmacist.

Ms. Spiro outlined the goals of the Roadmap: (1) ensure HIT supports pharmacists in the delivery of healthcare services, enabling pharmacists to improve public health through the safe, effective, and appropriate use of medication; (2) achieve integration of clinical data with electronic prescription (e-prescribing) information, fostering forums evaluating e-prescribing system safety and effectiveness, as well as ways to improve the e-prescribing system; (3) advocate recognition of the pharmacist’s role in existing programs and policies, promoting pharmacist involvement in the delivery of healthcare in all practice settings; and (4) ensure that the HIT infrastructure includes and supports medication therapy management services, incorporating medication therapy management (MTM) principles and service models into the infrastructure.

The next set of goals addresses the role of the pharmacist vis-à-vis electronic health records (EHRs): (5) integrate pharmacist-delivered immunizations into patients’ EHRs; (6) achieve recognition of pharmacists as meaningful users of EHR quality measures, promoting the awareness of the pharmacists’ role and its impact on the “meaningful use” quality measures of other healthcare professionals and hospitals.

In terms of vendor EHR certification, the goals include (7) establishing recognition and approval of criteria for EHR certification for pharmacists and selection of a certification body to drive such certification beyond e-prescribing functionality; and (8) promote use of HIT and certified pharmacist EHRs, including participation in health information exchanges (HIEs) for bidirectional exchange of medical information.

The final 2 goals outlined by Ms. Spiro were (9) achieve integration of pharmacies and pharmacists into HIEs, including pharmacist-provided services in HIEs by providing and receiving key clinical and medication information; and (10) establish the value and effective use of HIT solutions by pharmacists, establishing the value of the role of the pharmacist in HIT.

Ms. Spiro then listed immediate priorities for the Roadmap project, including taking steps to ensure integration of pharmacist-provided patient care services into the national HIT interoperative framework. She outlined 4 steps to achieve that goal: (1) promote the Roadmap for Pharmacy HIT agenda to stakeholders, change-agents, and policy makers; (2) engage stakeholders within and outside the pharmacy sector; (3) participate in national, regional, state, local, and private HIE initiatives and agendas; and (4) educate pharmacist stakeholders to help assess and accelerate adoption of the EHRs by pharmacists.

Next steps, as outlined by Ms. Spiro, include conducting a survey to rank and prioritize the 10 goals of the program, and then convening a focus group centered on the top 3 goals. She urged session attendees to get involved by taking an interprofessional team approach to adoption of EHRs in all practice settings and participating in HIT initiatives with professional associations.

In summary, she stated, “Pharmacists’ clinical services are a critical component of our nation’s healthcare system and can effectively contribute to the meaningful use of EHR.”