Modern healthcare relies on decades old technology and forms of communication, which can no longer satisfy the collective needs of caregivers. Patient health records largely remain as they were 40 years ago. The vast majority of physicians still utilize handwritten prescriptions and paper charts. Current patient records are subject to many flaws, such as missing and incomplete data entries, unavailability because of use and the general inability to be combined and manipulated. Very few physicians are electronically linked to pharmacies or other providers, even within the same organization or facility. Most medication data is not exchanged among providers, and when it is, it is usually in paper document format. The result is that no one provider has access to, or sees, the total medication picture and is never completely sure of the patient's past medical history.

Without integrated data, it is difficult to know if the medication is working. Consolidated medication data can show signs of increasing dosage or combination therapy, possibly indicating the progression of a disease.

The consolidation of patient medication data across all healthcare providers and its integration with other patient record data addresses established industry objectives of: patient focused care, optimal drug ...

15 20 2001 40 abl access achiev across action activ actual addit address administ admiss adopt ago allow altern although among analysi analyz appropri aspect assess assist autom avail becom benefit better beyond cannot capabl care caregiv case chang chart chronic claim clinic collect combin common communic compar complet complianc condit consequ consolid continu contribut coordin correct cost cours critic current data decad decis deliv deliveri depend determin diagnosi differ difficult direct diseas dispens dissemin distribut document dosag drug effect effici electron emerg emphasi encount enough entri establish evalu even everyon exchang exist expand facil fill financi flaw flexibl focus follow form format foundat fragment futur general hand handwritten health healthcar help high histori hospit ill immedi implement import inabl includ incomplet increas independ indic individu industri influenc inform insight integr interact involv issu keep kept know laboratori lack larg lead line link littl longer made maintain major make man manag mani manipul may measur medic miss modern multipl must need needless never new noncompli numer object obtain occur octob offic often old on-lin one optim order organ outcom outpati overcom paper part particip past pathway patient pattern percent pharmaci pharmacist physician pick pictur place plan posit possibl potenti practic prerequisit prescrib prescript present problem procedur progress prolong promot proper prospect protocol provid qualiti rang rare realiti recommend record refer regimen reli remain requir resid resourc respons result rise room routin satisfi see seen segment share shift show sign similar simultan span specialist standard still subject sure system take technolog therapi time total tradit treatment true type unavail uncontrol undesir unless use user usual util valu vari various vast visit way whenev whole wide william within without wmanning/privacy.html work write written www.netrech.net year