The Challenge
South Carolina mandates prescribers to query SCRIPTS, the state’s prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) before writing or continuing a prescription for a controlled substance. South Carolina has been consistently among the 10 states with the highest opioid-related death rates. Recently, the state’s providers wrote 60.4 opioid prescriptions for every 100 persons, compared to the U.S. average of 46.7 prescriptions for every 100 persons.
Prisma Health, the largest not-for-profit health organization in South Carolina, recognized this challenge of managing high volumes of opioid prescriptions with complex workflows and sought a solution. Prior to integration, there was a separate login and querying process for SCRIPTS. “(Physicians) had to jump out to that site, look up information, review the patient report, and come back into workflow,” says Scottie Tooley, Manager of Ambulatory EMR Support at Prisma Health. “It required manual documentation of the fact that you had queried that database, in case we were ever audited. It required [additional] clicks and slowed them down.”
The Solution
Prisma Health partnered with Bamboo Health to provide over 1,000 clinicians with access to SCRIPTS through EHR workflow using PMP Gateway. PMP Gateway makes accessing data and analytics easy by integrating it directly in the clinical workflows of major EHRs. This interoperability allows clinicians to retrieve patients’ prescription histories in seconds and spend more face-to-face time with their patients.
PMP Gateway Empowers:
- Integration of multi-state prescription drug monitoring program information
- Simplified access to government-managed and regulated PDMP data directly within existing clinical workflows, reducing the number of clicks required for providers
- Streamlined adherence to state regulations for monitoring controlled substance prescriptions
- Quick and efficient results for querying patients’ prescription histories, freeing up valuable time for healthcare providers
“A combination of being able to check the PMP along with e-prescribing of controlled substances has definitely decreased the amount of fraud that we see. By far, the biggest satisfier is that I can click the link, I’ll see the report, I’m done. And not have to go and log into a different system. It makes providers more inclined to actually take the steps of checking the database, because it is not difficult.”
Dr. Jeffrey Gerac Chief Medical Information Officer at Prisma Health – Upstate
As Featured in Healthcare Innovation
In addition to leveraging Bamboo’s PMP Gateway solution, Prisma Health has expanded to utilize
several additional collaboration tools from Bamboo Health to improve care coordination. Read more about them in Healthcare Innovation: Prisma Health’s inVio Health Network Getting More Real-Time Patient Data
