HOMI PR dtd 3/8/99
Monday, March 8, 8:00 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Health Outcomes Management Inc.
Health Outcomes Management discovers "DC Bug" in software that checks for drug interactions in pharmacy and physician systems.
Find out more about the "DC Bug" and how to detect and correct it.
Minneapolis, MN, MAR 1. /PRNewswire/ -- Health Outcomes Management, Inc. (BB:HOMI - news) announced today that in the process of their research, they discovered that there is a bug in the way most pharmacy computer systems check for interactions between multiple prescriptions taken by individual patients. Health Outcomes found that while most pharmacy computer systems check to determine if there is an unwanted interaction when drugs are added to a patients drug regimen, systems were not checking to determine if there is an unwanted interaction when drugs are removed from a patient's drug regimen. While the Y2K bug may be a problem for some computers at the end of the millenium, the DC bug is a problem for patients, physicians, and pharmacy providers today.
For many years, pharmacies have been required to have software systems that check for drug interactions. This includes hospital, retail, nursing home, and home health pharmacies. It is a requirement for accreditation and licensure at most of these sites. The "DC" or Discontinued Drug Bug is a problem in pharmacy, hospital, physician, long term care, internet, and other health related systems that perform drug interaction checking. Drug interactions are a substantial part of the estimated $100 Billion dollars worth of medical problems caused by prescription drugs in this country each year. They are also involved in some of the more than 100,000 deaths related to drug causes every year.
Healthcare computer systems currently produce an automatic warning when interacting drugs are added to a patient's drug regimen. Many interactions are "fixed" by adjusting the other medications a patient receives to counteract the negative effect of the interaction. Discontinuing a drug then puts all of those medications out of adjustment again. There is no automatic warning built into healthcare computer systems to highlight interacting drugs that are discontinued, therefore putting the patient at risk in these situations. With the advent of many new prescription drugs, new herbals and new over the counter medications this problem only gets worse. Drugs involved in the treatment of chronic diseases such as hypertension, heart disease, depression, stroke, asthma, ulcers, seizures, infections, allergies, transplants, and others are involved.
Health Outcomes Management, Inc. also announced today a patent pending fix for the DC Bug affecting all healthcare computers involved in drug orders. Mike Frakes, Vice President, is quoted as saying, "We discovered this problem and its solution while we were involved in activities related to our Patient-Centered Pharmaceutical Care system. We identified specific patients experiencing this problem while analyzing data from a group of 10,000 patients in Minnesota studied in conjunction with the Peters Institute of Pharmaceutical Care. This is a major flaw in the processes used in computers to check for serious drug interactions. To limit their potential liability, healthcare workers should check their systems to verify they have fixed the problem. A testing methodology is available on our web site HOMI.COM. Patients should ask their pharmacies and physicians if their systems have the fix. Patients should also check with their physicians and pharmacies any time they stop taking a drug to make sure no drug interaction will occur that can cause them significant harm." He went on to say "We will be happy to work with pharmacy systems developers to correct this problem quickly, as it is a public health issue."
Health Outcomes Management Inc. (HOMI), is a Medical Outcomes consulting, training, and software development firm. It specializes in the areas of Patient Centered Pharmaceutical Care and long term care facility management. Its pharmaceutical outcomes management products have been designed to be a tool that will empower pharmacists to provide a new level of care that will save both lives and healthcare dollars. (For additional company information visit our website on the internet at homi.com or contact Mike Frakes at 612-378-3053). |
