Now Available: Reporting Adverse Drug Events Via EHRs

PDR Network has launched a national adverse drug event network to enable physicians to report such events via their electronic health records system, or through a new Web site, RxEvent.org.

Montvale, N.J.-based PDR Network distributes drug safety information, FDA-issued product safety alerts and other services such as the Physicians' Desk Reference. The company in late 2010 also launched an electronic health record safety reporting Web site, called EHRevent.org, where providers can report safety issues related to the use of EHRs.

Roughly a half million adverse drug events are reported annually to the Food and Drug Administration, according to PDR Network, with the vast majority of reports coming from pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Published studies indicate less than 10 percent of such reports come from physicians. A streamlined reporting process integrated into EHRs, with pre-population of information and enabling drug manufacturers or the FDA to contact a reporting provider if additional information is needed, is designed to increase physician reporting of adverse drug events.

EHR vendors athenahealth Inc. and Greenway Medical Technologies are the first to integrate RxEvent reporting into their applications.