Helping to Solve the U.S. Opioid Crisis with Technology

This blog post was created in partnership with AWS and Appriss.

The opioid epidemic is a growing and complex problem. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that more than 71,000 people in the U.S. died from drug overdose deaths in 2017.

One important tool in the arsenal of federal and state government agencies looking to fight the opioid crisis are prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs). A PDMP is a statewide electronic database that tracks all controlled substance prescriptions, in which users can access prescription data such as medications dispensed and doses.

PDMPs improve patient safety by enabling clinicians to identify patients who are obtaining opioids from multiple providers and pharmacies; identify patients who are being prescribed other substances that may increase risk of opioids—such as benzodiazepines; calculate the amount of opioids prescribed; and calculate the number of overlapping prescriptions; amongst other clinical decision supports.

While PDMPs have proven effective in combating prescription drug abuse and misuse nationwide, there is still much that can be done to increase their utilization and effectiveness. Sharing information across state lines and integrating PDMP information, analytics, insights, and resources into electronic health record (EHR) and pharmacy management system workflow is a critical step in the progression of optimizing PDMPs.

Appriss Health, one of the nation’s leading providers of comprehensive substance use disorder (SUD) solutions and an Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) Partner, works directly with healthcare providers, pharmacies, government, and others to help improve patient outcomes.

Appriss Health has built a comprehensive nationwide network of PDMPs. Today, 44 of 54 PDMPs in the U.S. and 1.35 million active users rely on Appriss Health to access PDMP information. Appriss Health’s partnership with AWS has enabled them to develop innovative, reliable and scalable solutions to address the opioid epidemic.

In collaboration with the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), Appriss Health maintains PMP InterConnect, the interstate data sharing hub that enables the sharing of PDMP data across state lines at no cost to the states. PMP InterConnect creates a more holistic view of a patient’s controlled substance (CS) prescriptions regardless of the pharmacy or state in which the prescriptions were dispensed. Fifty PDMPs are now actively engaged in interstate data sharing with PMP InterConnect. It facilitates more than 40 million interstate PDMP data requests and over 115 million responses every month.

Through Appriss Health’s PMP Gateway managed service, PDMP information and much more can be integrated into EHRs and pharmacy management systems, increasing the utilization of the PDMP at the point of care and within workflow. Nationwide, more than 400,000 prescribers and pharmacists currently have access to their PDMPs within clinical workflow at 59,000 facilities through PMP Gateway. Forty-three states are now actively participating in PMP Gateway and more than 130+ EHRs are currently connected to PMP Gateway.  Eighty percent of Michigan is integrated, and 90 percent of Ohio is integrated today.

The integration of PDMPs into EHRs at the point of care increases the ease of access and use of PDMP information for making critical clinical decisions, including the prescribing and dispensing of controlled substances, as well as patient care and safety. Prior to this integration initiative, prescribers had to log in to separate systems to query patient information which took important time away from patient care.

Lastly, via Appriss Health’s NarxCare platform, more than 650,000 prescribers and dispensers are now enabled to identify over 143 million patients across the U.S. who may be at risk for prescription drug addiction, overdose, and death. NarxCare equips clinicians and care teams with the tools and technology they need to help those patients. NarxCare aggregates and analyzes prescription information from providers and pharmacies and presents interactive, visual representations of that information, as well as advanced analytic insights and risk scores to help physicians, pharmacists, and care teams provide better patient safety and outcomes. It also utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, provides MAT and treatment locators, and helps to coordinate care across the continuum.

Appriss Health continues to focus on delivering real-time clinical decision support tools, critical insights, and powerful enabling capabilities that provide healthcare practitioners, pharmacists, and care team members with the ability to assess and manage clinical risk to positively impact patient safety and health outcomes. Appriss Health is also aligned with current legislative initiatives such as the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act — a 2018 law that brings new requirements and funding opportunities for compliance, prevention, and treatment of SUD. Solutions offered by Appriss Health with support from AWS provide for safer prescribing; identification, prevention, and management of SUD; PDMP enhancements; interstate data sharing; integrations; and many more resources that help to improve patient outcomes and address the complex opioid problem plaguing our communities.

To learn more, visit www.apprisshealth.com.