Hospital Participation in Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs.

The prescription drug abuse epidemic continues to grow. This multifaceted problem requires a multifaceted solution. In this installment, we discuss prescription drug monitoring programs and their relevance to hospital pharmacies.

Are Pharmacists Participating in Postdischarge Patient Reminders?

In this column, we are making a short revisit to the technology that can assist in satisfaction of Meaningful Use criteria and can assist health systems that are increasing their population health initiatives to help improve outcomes while containing costs.

Virtual Reality and Pharmacy: Opportunities and Challenges.

We often find inspiration in tech happenings. This month, we explore the opportunities and challenges for using one of the most popular tech gifts of 2016 to advance safe and efficacious medication use.

Are You Practicing in a Learning Health System?

Learning never ceases. While continuing education is important for all of us, we are not speaking of licensure requirements. We are speaking of learning within your health system that systematically incorporates knowledge gained through research and clinical care into individual care.

Precision Medicine: Considerable Potential Combined with Important Challenges.

While not necessarily a new idea, precision medicine has recently gained traction as the future of health care. The potential benefits are almost difficult to believe, while the challenges are multifaceted. We provide an overview of the current state of precision medicine.

Does Your Department Have a Technology Innovation Strategy?

There are ways to facilitate the successful implementation of technological innovations. These are especially important in a time of rapid development of new tools to support safe and effective medication therapy. This installment addresses some of the key components of a successful technology innovation strategy.

Advancements in Adherence Monitoring.

Some things really never change. For example, medication adherence remains a critical factor that influences the effectiveness of our modern health care system. Is there a magic bullet to solve the problem of nonadherence? We don't think there is.

Consider Adopting Collaborative Project Management Software.

Pharmacy administrators are often tasked with a range of responsibilities, from strategic planning and human resources to information systems management. Because of this, tools to support administrators' efficient and appropriate attention to everything on their plate can be valuable. Identification and evaluation of the available tools should be guided by careful consideration of the department's needs.

Exploring the ONC's Health IT Dashboard.

Readers are living the reality of the government's efforts to move the United States health care system into an electronic environment. It is often easy to develop tunnel vision and focus on efforts at your home institution. In this column, we explore a big picture perspective using an online resource that provides national-level data focused on specific areas of interest.

Patient-Centered Technology to Enhance Population Health Management.

Take a little walk with us this month as we explore how things such as reimbursement systems are changing. Health systems are adopting population health strategies and performing experiments in rendering this type of care. Many health systems start with the care of their own employees, if they are self-insured.

Keeping Up with Advancements in Health Information Technology.

We all face an onslaught of information on a daily basis in our personal and professional lives. We view it as a significant part of our professional responsibility to help our colleagues stay abreast of the latest advancements related to health information technology (HIT). This month we explore some of the key resources that we find helpful for keeping up-to-date with emerging and disruptive technology.

Moving to an Information Technology-Driven Health Care Environment.

Do you remember when 2020 was the date used as the distant future when our lives would be totally transformed by the technologies that were going to be part of our daily routines? Do you recall that magazine predicted in the 1950s that our biggest problem in the year 2000 would be the crowded airspace from our personal helicopters? Who was the thought leader who said no household in America would buy a computer or need one? We believe there are funny predictions that were made years ago that haven't yet come to fruition. We are also convinced that health care is rapidly becoming primarily information technology-driven, including big data, little data, and some pretty exciting technologies that are rapidly emerging and are already beyond the "showing promise" stage.

How Population Health Management and Big Data Can Rock Your World.

Hospitals and health systems like yours have been aggressively pursuing a range of information systems over the last several decades. Cited goals are often efficiency, lower costs, better decisions, and better patient outcomes. But how do these systems purportedly lead to population-level improvements in care? In this column, we address the connections that are anticipated as well as challenges to be expected along the way.

The Quantified Self.

Health systems are complex organizations with many moving parts. Ultimately, however, each patient views the health system as a place that should address his or her health needs. Increasingly, patients are bringing more information to the care process, adding complexity and potentially both useful and erroneous input to the process.

Is This the First Adherence-Focused Multidisciplinary Care Team App?

We have mentioned the need for a multidisciplinary app in health care in at least 3 of our previous columns. We have also written about the Internet of Things (IoT) and how this exploding technology change will impact us all. In case you need a refresher, we believe that there are 5 new rights in health care that can be supported by mobile connectivity.

Bringing Home Participatory Health Care.

Following another hospital stay, we have new observations on what it means to address patient needs. Some efforts are founded in technology, while others focus on the process of care. As a member of the broader care team, pharmacy should be aware of and engaged in institutional efforts focused on the patient experience.

IT Maximization for Population Health Management.

Those of you who have been in the health-system setting for several decades have seen many changes. Some of the changes originate within the care setting, whereas many others are brought on by external circumstances. Even those who have been in health systems for only 5 years can recall a recent change in the organization that greatly impacted pharmacy.

Opportunities for Health System Pharmacies in Patient Care.

It's been said that the best hospital stay is the one that doesn't occur. Certainly, Hospital Pharmacy's readers know that we are still working toward a completely safe health care delivery experience. In this installment, medication errors experienced during a hospital stay bring to light opportunities for health system pharmacies to create new points of engagement with their patients and increase patients' involvement in their care.

Health Information Technology Risks, Errors, External Threats, and Human Complacency.

It may seem that our position is one of unwavering support for all things health information technology (HIT). However, we like to believe that we are cautious and deliberate in our evaluation of HIT. This month, we explore some of the common overt and covert challenges to optimal use of HIT.

Technology Is Becoming Integral to the Success of Patient Engagement.

Health systems can adopt the most advanced information systems and employ a facility full of progressive providers, but many of their efforts may fail if patients are not engaged. Blending the outputs of electronic health records in every transition, sharing and exchanging health information, and populating personal health records are among the technologies that are increasingly being used to bring patients inside the process and participating in the circle of care.

Where Are Patients Positioned in Your Seamless Care Strategies?

In our earliest thoughts of how to engage patients in self-care management, we found online banking and finance to be the best model for health care to follow. This model is still right for today. Although no digital approach will apply to 100% of any population, there is evidence that older patient populations see the benefit of being able to access their health care providers online and on mobile devices.

Is it time for the customizable infobutton?

Infobuttons are intended to provide links to context-sensitive information in online resources to support clinical decision making. In this issue, we discuss challenges that impact the maximal effective use of Infobuttons. We also suggest methods to facilitate the role of Infobuttons as a tool to support optimal use of medications.

Tech trends we are watching in 2015: health information technology developments.

As a new year begins, we look ahead to several important topics that we will closely follow over the next 12 months. The list is certainly not exhaustive, but we believe these topics should be on all hospital pharmacy staff members' radar screens.

Getting back to the "roots" of drug information and looking at the future potential.

Drug information service was one of the first specialty areas of pharmacy practice. The importance of effectively searching, interpreting, and applying the medical literature continues today. The information systems that we use in today's health care environment have created new opportunities for pharmacists to apply their drug information expertise.

Should health system pharmacists keep up with the meaningful use staging process?

Are the efforts of the nation's hospitals to implement electronic health records (EHRs) relevant to pharmacists? We believe they are. As we write another installment on the topic, we suggest that pharmacists have an important role in their institutions' efforts toward meaningful use of EHRs.