Becker's Hospital Review

30 CIO / HEALTH IT Here is What Trump's Opioid Declaration Means for Health IT By Julie Spitzer P resident Donald Trump declared the na- tion's opioid epidemic a public health emer- gency Oct. 26, meaning several changes at the state and federal level would be made to ad- dress the crisis. Shortly aer, Acting HHS Secretary Eric Har- gan issued a public health emergency declaration on the opioid crisis, creating additional avenues to address the epidemic. Here is what the declarations mean for health IT. 1. e action allows for expanded access to tele- medicine services. ese include remote prescrib- ing of medicine commonly used for substance abuse or mental health treatment. 2. However, the Drug Enforcement Agency must first revise its regulations. e American Telemed- icine Association has been urging the DEA to im- plement a "special registration" provision for tele- medicine as an update to the Ryan Haight Act that would expand its use, thereby reducing barriers to addiction treatment. "ree groups of patients will be primary benefi- ciaries of this important regulatory change: indi- viduals with addictions, children with ADHD and veterans with PTSD. ey are all commonly treat- ed with a range of controlled substances which, until now, have not been able to be prescribed by telemedicine," ATA President Peter Yellowlees, MD, said. 3. Other groups, like the Association for Behavior- al Health and Wellness, have suggested a change to 42 CFR Part 2 regulations, which have prevent- ed providers from knowing critical, relevant in- formation about a patient's past addiction. 4. ABHW also notes the importance of bills like the Overdose Prevention and Patient Safety Act of 2017 (H.R. 3545), which ease privacy law re- quirements, and Jessie's Law (S.1850), which aims to help create EHR alerts for patients' history of drug addiction. 5. Health IT Now is calling for increased interop- erability amongst states' prescription drug mon- itoring programs to increase prescribing pattern awareness amongst providers and prescribers. n Study: Paper Records Outpace EHRs on Content Quality, Quantity By Jessica Kim Cohen E HRs and paper records tend to offer different benefits and draw- backs in terms of content, process and structure, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing. The researchers — led by Laila Akhu-Zaheya, PhD, RN, a health researcher at the Jordan University of Science and Technology in the Middle East — identified 434 records from two public hospitals to compare the quality of paper- and electronic-based nursing documentation. They determined paper-based records boasted higher quality and quan- tity of content when compared to EHRs. By contrast, EHRs were more successful than paper-based records when it came to documentation process and structure. The researchers concluded their study affirmed overall "poor quality" of nursing documentation. "The study affirmed the poor quality of nursing documentation and lack of nurses' knowledge and skills in the nursing process and its application in both paper-based and electronic-based system," the study authors wrote. "Both forms of documentation revealed drawbacks in terms of content, process and structure." n CVS Health, Epic Partner for More Informed Prescribing By Julie Spitzer W oonsocket, R.I.-based CVS Health will integrate with Verona, Wis.-based Epic's Healthy Planet population health and ana- lytics platform to help prescribers access better data on pre- scription drugs. Epic's platform will help care teams generate insights on dispensing pat- terns and behaviors around medication adherence, as well as lower drug costs for patients and improve outcomes. Real-time benefit information and facilitated, point-of-prescribing electronic prior authorization will simplify patient access to medications and ensure prescribers are aware of insurance coverage. "This collaboration with Epic will enable us to continue to drive leading edge technology innovation beyond the pharmacy to the full healthcare system," said Stephen Gold, CIO at CVS Health. "Together, our two com- panies will also examine opportunities to streamline and improve data sharing and linkages across the health care system to enhance commu- nication and connectivity among patients, their physicians, the pharmacy and health insurers." The strategic initiative will also explore ways of improving pharmacists' access to clinical information and their contribution to patient care plans, as well as creating a digital-front store to include over-the-counter medi- cation purchases in the patient's EHR. n

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