The Challenge
Tennessee pharmacists are required to check the Tennessee Controlled Substance Medication Database (CSMD) before dispensing controlled substances. In the rural city of Manchester, the pharmacists at Marcrom’s Pharmacy are familiar with local prescribers and have a history of safe prescribing practices. However, maintaining compliance was a time-consuming process that took each pharmacist nearly 20 minutes to complete every day. As a result, they had less time to spend one-on-one with patients.
The Solution
The Tennessee Department of Health contracted with Bamboo Health to integrate CSMD information into approved electronic health records (EHRs) and pharmacy management systems (PMSs) using Bamboo Health’s PMP Gateway® service in 2020. Before this transition, pharmacies and healthcare providers had to log in to the CSMD web portal to query patient data. The Gateway integration simplified the process by automating the request to the CSMD and making the patient report available in the pharmacist’s clinical workflow. This largely eliminated the need for Tennessee pharmacists and providers to navigate to the CSMD website, log in, and enter their patient’s information. Instead, controlled substance prescription records may now be obtained within the clinical workflow inside the EHR and PMS.
For Marcrom’s Pharmacy, this has meant more time for their pharmacists, less frustration with administrative tasks, and more potential to catch interstate doctor shopping and polypharmacy risks
