: We propose a planning grant whose ultimate objective is the development of an actionable, practical plan for implementing a rural regional prescription medication network. The Wisconsin Rural Prescription Medication Network (WIRuralRx) partnership consists of three separate healthcare organizations--St Joseph Hospital (lead partner), Marshfield Clinic, and Wausau Family Practice. These healthcare provider organizations have come together in this planning effort because they share a vision of a safer, more effective, and more efficient healthcare system in rural America and believe that innovative health information technology (HIT) applications can help them and other committed healthcare organizations realize that vision. This planning effort will focus on development of a shared electronic repository for patient-level prescription medication data that enables real-time access for any patient receiving healthcare services at any one of the partnering institutions, which include both hospital and ambulatory care partners. The long-term goal of this initiative is to be well positioned to implement a prototype, model system that will be scalable, portable, efficient, and effective so that new partners can link into the system and realize its inherent advantages for improved quality of care and patient safety.
Specific aims for this planning effort include: 1. Develop actionable plans for a model system design that would electronically link prescription medication data across a hospital, a regional multi-specialty physician group practice, and a local family practice, spanning their diverse patient record systems. 2. Identify and solve organizational, operational, legal/regulatory, financial, and technical problems that present barriers to the development of the proposed model system. 3. Document the planning and development process so that lessons learned can be shared with others interested in similar HIT innovations.
