One of the best moves I have ever made was selecting and installing the Purkinje ePrescribing product. Purkinje sells an EHR product too, but I really cannot speak to that.
Purkinje uses the Software as Service model, so there is no server hardware to manage. You just need to set-up a secure connection to their data center over the Internet. The software is web-based, so we did not have a special client to install.
We have been using their ePrescribing tool for nearly 5 years and our physicians really have embraced it. It is very simple and our incidence of downtime and unavailability have been well within our expectation. Purkinje had some great functionality that the bigger players did not have when we made the purchase. Most importantly, the system has a lot of clinical content that reminds our doctors about clinical research and costs specific to the illness they are treating. So, for example, if a doctor is treating a hypertensive patient for the first time the system will provide the doctor a quick, unobtrusive alert that reminds them diuretics are the preferred first line of therapy in most patients and a fraction of the cost of most alternatives.
We were able to get rid of the prescription pads quickly. I have heard many anecdotes about the system catching medication and allergy conflicts that might have otherwise been missed.
Through interfaces to our MEDITECH Magic HIS the doctor’s are able to select patients from their schedule that appears in the ePrescribing system. Each time the medication list is updated we send a report in MEDITECH so our patient’s medication list is available in MEDITECH’s PCI.
This is why I support Medicare’s push for electronic prescribing. Unlike the Leapfrog group’s poorly considered call for CPOE, ePrescribing is easily accomplished, commercially available and proven to truly be be beneficial to the health, safety and pocketbook of patients.
Candid CIO 
Will – how do you handle medication reconciliation – in Purkinje or in your EMR? Is Purkinje used in all outpatient settings (Emergency, surgery) and transfers to the outpatient setting (discharge)? Last question – does Purkinje connect with SureScripts and RxHub or direct to the PBMs (Medco, Caremark, etc.)?
Like any point of care delivery system – device availability in support of the workflow and clinic layout takes some attention to get it right. I have to agree – this is a win with physicians, nurses, and most importantly, with patients. Great post!
Hey Will! Long time! You mention that Purkinje had great functionality others didn’t at the time. From what you know of today’s market, do you think you’d pick them again if you were doing a selection now? Who else would be your top choices? I am the Interim CIO at Bromenn and we’re looking at one of the larger suite vendors of handheld apps (including e-prescribing) that integrates well with MEDITECH (we’re C/S).
BTW, on the ambulatory front, my MEDITECH folks are telling me they already have developed standard interfaces to a couple of top products like NextGen and Allscripts so they’re hedging their LSS bet. I hear good things about eClinicalWorks and athenaHealth too We use Misys but our owned physician group is not happy with it.