With so many drugs out there on the market, it is often hard to keep track of them, let alone remember all their names and dosages and other contraindications. There are many websites on the internet with the information but not all medical professionals have the time to surf all these websites to find the information that they want. A solution to this has been devised by Epocrates, Inc., a leading developer of mobile applications based in San Mateo, California. They first devised a trusted mobile drug and formulary guide that can be accessed by PDA. Now they also offer a free Web-based Drug and Health Plan Formulary Product that has so far been used by more than 500,000 healthcare professionals who are seeking critical information about more than 3,300 drugs, including dosing, pricing, potential drug interactions and Medicare Part D formulary coverage. As long as these professionals have a computer with an Internet connection, they can access the information.
One of the many types of drugs that Epocrates provides information on is Acetaminophen. The information mentions the dosage amount, contraindications, reaction with other drugs, cost, patient education, and more. They also provide the names and pictures of pills, tablets, capsules, and liquid medicine that contain acetaminophen. So helpful has been the information provided by Epocrates, Inc. that Jacob Wood, MD, Assistant Professor, UAB Selma Family Residency Program, had this to say: “I’ve been using Epocrates products on my PDA for years and find them indispensable to my practice. I think it is wonderful that my colleagues and staff that don’t yet use a PDA can now access the same information online to help them improve patient care.”
Epocrates products are highly credible since they are designed by practicing physicians who want to provide the most clinically useful and relevant information to other health care professionals, giving these professionals more time to focus on patient care once they use the Epocrates website and PDA application as their primary source for clinical reference needs. This online product has been so successful that Kirk Loevner, Epocrates Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, had this to say: “The new online offering will help us grow our network beyond the healthcare professionals that currently use our PDA-based applications. Epocrates Online also provides us with the opportunity to develop content and services that are optimized for an online platform.”
Epocrates Online has an extensive drug guide and formulary information for more than 130 health plans and hundreds of Medicare Part D formularies, allowing medical professionals to quickly and easily access formulary status, drug coverage and alternative and generic drug options for the various health plans of their patients. Clinicians and medical support staff who want a more in-depth online reference can subscribe to the Epocrates Online premium product. This premium service is packed with additional features and a lot more content. These include more than 400 alternative medicine monographs, patient education handouts, pill pictures, pill identifier, and hundreds of medical tables and calculations. As such, Jacob Wood says that he would like to “encourage all healthcare professionals to use Epocrates products via the Internet or a PDA. They are such a valuable resource and convenient tool that once you try it, you won’t know what you ever did without them.”
Truly a leader in its class, Epocrates is transforming the practice of medicine by providing innovative clinical solutions to all medical professionals at the point of care and cutting-edge technology that enables and fosters effective communication. There are over 500,000 health care professionals that are connected by the clinical network developed by Epocrates. Statistics show that one in every four physicians in the U.S. and one in two U.S. medical students, along with other healthcare stakeholders, are a part of this vast network. Epocrates was recently ranked at number 176 out of 500 of the fastest growing private companies in the U.S. in the 25th annual ‘Inc.500′.
A true testament to what can happen when dedicated professionals aim to provide quality services to others in their field, Epocrates has certainly gone beyond the call of duty to ensure high standards and timely information. They are an organization that we can truly be proud of.
