Application Program Interface Implementation for the Intercommunication of Prescription Information

Abstract

Medication errors are a significant problem related to mortality in the United States. When patients present to a healthcare facility without accurate knowledge of their home medication regimen, unintentional, harmful, and costly consequences can ensue, such as extra healthcare services related to a medication reaction to an unreported medication mistaken for an unknown disease process. The project site is a non-profit 501 3 c primary care facility that does not utilize the electronic health record (EHR) medication list for medication reconciliations (MedRec) but uses the pharmacy-generated list. The research project compared medication lists to the site's pharmacy list using pre-implementation and post-implementation Application Program Interface (API) groups. A Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) cycle on each audit day was completed to ensure consistency of the auditing process and chosen inclusion and exclusion criteria. API intervention connected to the pharmacy software, thus allowing interoperability between the site's pharmacy software and the EHR. Post-implementation results denote a 13% decrease in medication inaccuracies between the pharmacy list and other healthcare facilities' EHR medication lists. Improved medication accuracy can improve patient outcomes, decrease healthcare costs, increase healthcare workers' job satisfaction, and increase patient satisfaction and trust within the healthcare community.