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HEALTH CARE REFORM
An Empirical Model to Estimate the Potential Impact of Medication Safety Alerts on Patient Safety, Health Care Utilization, and Cost in Ambulatory Care
Saul N. Weingart, MD, PhD;
Brett Simchowitz, BA;
Harper Padolsky, MD;
Thomas Isaac, MD, MBA, MPH;
Andrew C. Seger, PharmD;
Michael Massagli, PhD;
Roger B. Davis, ScD;
Joel S. Weissman, PhD
Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(16):1465-1473.
Background Because ambulatory care clinicians override as many as 91% of drug interaction alerts, the potential benefit of electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) with decision support is uncertain.
Methods We studied 279 476 alerted prescriptions written by 2321 Massachusetts ambulatory care clinicians using a single commercial e-prescribing system from January 1 through June 30, 2006. An expert panel reviewed a sample of common drug interaction alerts, estimating the likelihood and severity of adverse drug events (ADEs) associated with each alert, the likely injury to the patient, and the health care utilization required to address each ADE. We estimated the cost savings due to e-prescribing by using third-party–payer and publicly available information.
Results Based on the expert panel's estimates, electronic drug alerts likely prevented 402 (interquartile range [IQR], 133-846) ADEs in 2006, including 49 (14-130) potentially serious, 125 (34-307) significant, and 228 (85-409) minor ADEs. Accepted alerts may have prevented a death in 3 (IQR, 2-13) cases, permanent disability in 14 (3-18), and temporary disability in 31 (10-97). Alerts potentially resulted in 39 (IQR, 14-100) fewer hospitalizations, 34 (6-74) fewer emergency department visits, and 267 (105-541) fewer office visits, for a cost savings of $402 619 (IQR, $141 012-$1 012 386). Based on the panel's estimates, 331 alerts were required to prevent 1 ADE, and a few alerts (10%) likely accounted for 60% of ADEs and 78% of cost savings.
Conclusions Electronic prescribing alerts in ambulatory care may prevent a substantial number of injuries and reduce health care costs in Massachusetts. Because a few alerts account for most of the benefit, e-prescribing systems should suppress low-value alerts.
Author Affiliations: Center for Patient Safety, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Drs Weingart, Padolsky, Isaac, and Seger and Mr Simchowitz), Tufts University School of Medicine (Dr Padolsky), Division of General Medicine and Primary Care, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Drs Weingart, Isaac, and Davis), Division of General Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital (Dr Seger), Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (Dr Seger), Institute for Health Policy, Massachusetts General Hospital (Dr Weissman), and Executive Office of Health and Human Services, Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Dr Weissman), Boston, Massachusetts; PatientsLikeMe, Cambridge, Massachusetts (Dr Massagli); and Department of Community and Family Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester (Dr Weissman).
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Health Information Technology as a Tool, Not an End: Comment on "An Empirical Model to Estimate the Potential Impact of Medication Safety Alerts on Patient Safety, Health Care Utilization, and Cost in Ambulatory Care"
Sophia W. Chang
Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(16):1474-1475.
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