You may be asking yourself what I am referring to, but this is a critical component for your Electronic Medical Records program and is a component that is often overlooked. The electronic data interchange or EDI is one of the most vital parts of a functional and efficient EMR program. EDI is the communication vehicle that enables the transfer or sharing of health information which is one of the central goals on an electronic health record.
I am specifically referring to the bi-directional interface available for the lab and prescription component of your EMR program. You basically have two options when moving to an electronic interchange with your laboratory or pharmacy and those two options are Uni-Directional or Bi-Directional.
In the Uni-Directional interface, you basically can think of it as you having the ability to send an email but the responding party has to respond with a letter. If you can imagine the extra time required to do this, you can begin to understand how vital bi-directional interfaces are. In lamens terms, you can send the lab work electronically but cannot receive the results electronically without some manual involvement. This usually means that someone scans the results into the computer and attaches each lab result to the patients record. In the Rx scenario, you have the ability to send the prescription to the patients pharmacy but the pharmacy cannot electronically notify you when the patient needs a refill or actually fills the prescription.
With a Bi-Directional interchange, you have a two way street that allows the bi-directional exchange of EDI. This is type of interchange is very common in the billing office of a practice but is now making its way into the clinical environment. Your billers electronically submit claims and for many carriers receive EOBs back in electronic formats referred to as ERAs (electronic remittance advice). If you are a biller with a capable billing program, you know how many hours of time is saved by utilizing the electronic posting capabilities of many systems. This same type of data exchange is available in the clinical setting in the form of bi-directional interfaces for your lab work and prescriptions. Believe it or not, many EMR programs are only equipped with a Uni-Directional interchange and even this costs extra to set up. You are typically charged a one time setup fee for the uni and bi-directional interchanges. Recently, I was working with an EMR company and they charged $2500 for a Uni-Directional interface with a particular lab and $5,000 for a bi-directional. Many programs come equipped with a Uni-Directional interface on the RX side because of the Medicare incentive. If you would like the bi-directional interchange it is usually available if you are using HL7 compliant software but does cost extra.
Most importantly, you should always ask the right questions to ensure you are receiving what you are paying for and need. Keys are HL7 Compliance, Bi-Directional Interchange with your Pharmacy and Lab. This is bottom line to increasing the efficiency and capabilities of your EDI.
[...] Vendors charge up to $50,000 to make an EMR talk to a practice management system. Up to, but not very common. $5,000-$10,000 is more common for a bi-directional interface. I wrote an article on the importance of bi-directional interfaces as it relates to labs and pharmacies. Same applies to pm/emr system. Article here-http://freeemrsolution.com/selecting-and-implementing-emr/why-bi-directional-matters-with-your-emr/ [...]
[...] Vendors charge up to $50,000 to make an EMR talk to a practice management system. Up to, but not very common. $5,000-$10,000 is more common for a bi-directional interface. I wrote an article on the importance of bi-directional interfaces as it relates to labs and pharmacies. Same applies to pm/emr system. Article here-http://freeemrsolution.com/selecting-and-implementing-emr/why-bi-directional-matters-with-your-emr/ [...]
We use http://www.drfirst.com for all our e-prescribing needs. Electronic prescribing is more accurate and safer than traditional hand written scripts. No more handwriting errors and when you e-prescribe you don’t have to worry about drug interactions or allergies because all your information is in the system.