EHR Migration Acts as a Catalyst to Optimize Medication Reconciliation

The transition of two hospitals and dozens of care locations to a new electronic health record (EHR) system created opportunities to improve operational efficiencies and prioritize patient care initiatives. One initiative involved a sharpened focus on medication management—and specifically medication reconciliation—to inform clinical decisions without the tedious tasks historically involved in gathering medication history and manually entering details into the patient record. Our vision for medication reconciliation included assessing staff responsibilities, leveraging technology to gather the best possible medication history, enhancing training and support to apply consistent patient care workflows, and analyzing metrics to identify best practices and areas for improvement. Over the past year, we faced several challenges such as inconsistent processes; an overwhelming volume of information in which to make clinical decisions; inefficiency in the documentation of medications; and managing disparate information during transitions of care between ambulatory and acute care settings. While many results are pending, we have seen a 30% improvement in how often newly acquired medication history information was consulted during admission and other transitions of care. Medication history is now being consulted for 97% of high-risk patients, and 89% of patients have new home meds added within 24 hours of admission.