Medical E-Prescription Platform
Helping an independent medical software vendor beat the competition and retain key customers with a smart eRx module for their existing EHR system
Collaboration:
2017 - present
Business context
An independent healthcare software vendor from the US that provides highly customized electronic health record (EHR) solutions for hospitals, mental health facilities, and hospices.
The team already served four large healthcare delivery organizations who primarily used third-party eRx tools to prescribe medicine electronically.
The client wanted to extend their web-based EHR functionality by adding a computerized provider order entry module that would handle e-prescriptions for regular and controlled substances (Schedule II–V drugs) for end users of the EHR system (clinicians, nurses, etc.) as well as electronic orders for laboratory and radiology tests. By doing so, they intended to encourage clients to switch from competitors’ eRx products to their own and create a consolidated ecosystem of their own branded clinical applications that would smoothly interact with each other and provide instant, actionable insights for improving patient safety and quality of care.
Business challenges
- Stakeholder and technical workflow management to make sure that all business and functional requirements are properly prioritized and that product deliveries are made on time
- Ensuring full HIPAA compliance for the eRx module in order to keep the whole EHR system HIPAA compliant
- Making sure that the upgraded EHR system meets ONC Certification requirements to allow providers to apply for the Quality Payment Program
- Setting up a delightful and easy training experience for clinical staff to enable a smooth transition from third-party eRx tools
Project details
Our client wanted to start with a minimum viable product (MVP) version of the digital health platform that would allow end users to create orders for Schedule I drugs and laboratory tests. These orders were expected to be delivered directly to a pharmacy or laboratory information system, which could help providers spend less time calling pharmacies and help labs clarify orders and spend more time with patients.
The eRx technology module was also expected to be equipped with at least basic clinical decision support functionality to automatically compare prescribed medications with a patient’s chart and treatment history, detect any potentially dangerous or fatal drug–drug or drug–allergy interactions, and instantly alert providers about potential interactions so providers can make informed decisions to improve patient safety.
Soon, however, the client realized this would not be enough to effectively compete with current third-party e-prescription tools used by healthcare establishments they served.
After several rounds of negotiations, our team of business analysts rolled out a plan for an extended MVP version that would be competitive enough to effectively cater to end users’ needs but still allow our client to stay within their planned budget and deadlines.
Managing medication orders
Placing single prescription and multiple prescription orders
Sending orders to a preferred pharmacy
Refilling prescriptions
Tracking order statuses
Implementing patient safety features
Ordering lab and radiology tests
Managing eligibility verification
Checking prescriptions against patients’ formularies
Electronic pre-authorization
Ordering controlled substances
Prescriber identity proofing
Access control to give EPCS permissions to approved providers
Two-factor authentication when signing EPCS prescriptions
Audit log
Technical implementation
- Functional testing
- Smoke testing
- UI testing
- Unit testing
- Performance testing
- Compatibility testing
- Compliance testing
- Security testing