Alliance Supports Medication Reconciliation

Siemens Medical Solutions and RxHub haveentered into a strategic partnership to provide clinicianswith easy access to detailed, up-to-dateoutpatient medication history. The information canbe reviewed and incorporated into a patient's medicationreconciliation within the acute care setting.

The agreement calls for Siemens to offer itslarge base of hospital and health system customersaccess to RxHub's MEDS. The MEDS serviceprovides access to the drug benefit eligibilitystatus of >150 million covered individuals. In linewith the Joint Commission on Accreditation ofHealthcare Organizations' patient-safety initiatives,Siemens will provide its acute care customerswith a leading-edge solution for queryingthe database of contracted pharmacy benefitmanagers and payers to determine what medicationsa patient has been and/or is currently taking.The arrangement should significantly improvereliability in medication reconciliation.

"One of the major causes of medication errorsin the hospital setting is [the] lack of completepatient information at the point of care," saidDavid McLean, chief executive officer of RxHub.

Tom Miller, president of the health care IT divisionof Siemens Medical Solutions, commented,"As we continue to deploy innovative patientsafetysolutions and add leading clinical contentpartners to our portfolio, this alliance enablesSiemens to immediately deliver critical patientspecificmedication history information to cliniciansat the appropriate point of care."