Updox and Creative Pharmacist Partner to Connect Pharmacists to Prescribers to Prevent Opioid Abuse
DUBLIN, Ohio (PRWEB) January 31, 2018 -- Updox, the industry leader for care coordination and healthcare customer relationship management (CRM) solutions, has united with Creative Pharmacist STRAND® Intervention Platform to provide community pharmacists with secure communications channels to connect with prescribers and other healthcare partners to prevent opioid abuse. Pharmacists are on the front lines of dispensing opioid pain medications and play a vital role in fighting the nation's opioid crisis.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 42,000 Americans died of opioid overdoses in 2016, a 28 percent increase over 2015. An estimated 91 Americans die each day from an opioid overdose, including prescription opioids and heroin. The CDC also reports that overdoses from prescription opioids are a driving factor in the 15-year increase in opioid overdose deaths. The amount of prescription opioids sold to pharmacies, hospitals, and doctors’ offices nearly quadrupled from 1999 to 2010, yet there had not been an overall change in the amount of pain that Americans reported.
Through Updox Pharmacy Connect, which is fully integrated with the STRAND platform, pharmacies can easily and securely communicate with prescribers to coordinate care and address various health issues, including opioid abuse. Community pharmacists participate as part of clinical care teams through STRAND Pathways, a guided, multifaceted way for pharmacy users to engage their customers. Pharmacists can also communicate with other healthcare professionals to gain more insight into a patient’s medication schedule and medical records. Updox solutions, such as secure email, patient portal, and appointment reminders, support addressing adherence, distributing educational materials and offering intervention support directly within pharmacy workflows.
“As a pharmacist myself, I’ve been encouraged by the engagement community pharmacists have achieved in recent days to combat this epidemic through the adoption of STRAND Pathways into their daily workflow,” says David Pope, PharmD, CDE, chief of Innovation and co-founder, Creative Pharmacist. “The addition of Updox into STRAND Pathways has brought true care coordination to each member we serve, no matter how large or small the community.”
STRAND is a first-of-its-kind intervention platform, allowing pharmacists to create and transmit Pharmacist eCare plans and bill for clinical services. In addition, STRAND provides intervention support, including patient education, built directly into the platform, allowing pharmacists to engage patients through an easy-to-use pathway within their workflow.
“Just as pharmacists serve an integral role in care coordination, they are also essential to help fight this opioid epidemic that is gripping our nation. Saving lives requires prescription monitoring, open communication, and patient and provider education,” says Michael Morgan, chief executive officer, Updox. “Updox Pharmacy Connect offers groundbreaking connectivity across healthcare, linking patients, pharmacists, providers, payers and others, to impact the way healthcare is delivered, improve quality of care and save lives.”
Creative Pharmacist and Updox will be launching a joint webinar series on Thursday, Feb. 8, at 3 p.m. ET. The series highlights how the two are working together to address industry issues including the opioid epidemic. To register, visit https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/3933744029276162561.
About Updox
Updox is the industry-leading care coordination and customer relationship management (CRM) solution specific for healthcare providers and partners. Named for the past three consecutive years to the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing private companies, Updox is integrated with more than 100 electronic health records (EHR) and serves more than 300,000 users and 72 million patients.
Through an extensive Direct messaging network and platform of apps, Updox connects various healthcare providers, including physicians, patients, payers, pharmacies, labs and healthcare partners. Once part of the Updox network, users or partners can access a full suite of applications including secure messaging, patient portal, appointment scheduling & reminders, credit card payments, and health alerts, all with the goal of driving improved outcomes through more efficient communications and better care coordination. Connect with Updox at http://www.updox.com.
About Creative Pharmacist
Co-founded by a community pharmacist and a technology expert in 2008, Creative Pharmacist, developer of the STRAND® clinical platform, is the U.S. market leader in helping pharmacists launch clinical services within their community. They support community pharmacists across the country in engaging patients with chronic disease, such as diabetes, through STRAND, a wide-reaching intervention, documentation, and education platform capable of developing the new Pharmacist eCare plan. Their mission is to transform the community pharmacy marketplace by inspiring and empowering pharmacists to engage clinical pharmacy practice to improve both the health of their business and the health of their patients. For more information, please visit: https://creativepharmacist.com/.
Aisling Babbitt, Updox, http://www.updox.com, +1 614-798-8170 Ext: 128, [email protected]
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