Home Forums Discussions Problems eRx and "matching" prescriptions

I am now running v6.0.9 of AC. We upgraded to achieve direct prescription renewals using AC rather than using the NewCrop screens.

But now I have a problem. I am getting renewal requests for patients that I haven't seen since I started using AC. Therefore, there is no medication info in AC, and no prescriptions to "match" the renewal request to. This prevents me from directly renewing or denying and rewriting the prescription. The only work around I have found is to either deny and write a new Rx. Or to write a new Rx, not send it anywhere, and then match the request to it.

Does anyone have a better work-around?

And on another note, if I do try to use the NewCrop screens, it won't let me unless every medication in AC has a sig and dispense value. Why the change?

Yes, see the patient first. You have been registered here since 11/2009. If you have patients wanting medication refills whom you have not seen in almost 2 years then IMO, they need an office follow up before a refill.

I registered here long before I started using AC. Any thoughts as to my actual question, which has nothing to do with when I actually see a patient?

I am not sure I quite understand the question, mainly because I haven't used a version that allows refill requests directly in AC.

My answer is this. We rarely approve the refill requests. We wait until the patient calls and we make them make an appointment. Why should you do all that work with a workaround especially since you are entering a medication you never prescribed. When I write a script I choose the amount of months I want the patient to have the med before I see them again. For instance, if I write for Nexium, I want to see them every four months.

Forgive my ignorance, I am still trying to understand your problem also. If the patient isn't already in AC at the time the refill request, wouldn't you also have to enter some basic demographics at least before you can do a direct prescription refill or is this new method supposed to pull in that information from the pharmacy?

I think he has likely populated AC with all of his patients. I am not sure if the refill requests would even work without patients in the chart.

Well, is it possible to write a new prescription for a new patient without creating a chart? If not, I would think it unlikely that you would be able to import a prescription for refill without a chart.

Sorry for the confusion. Let me try to clarify.

When we moved to AC, I imported all the patients from our practice management system. We had recently moved to that system (April 2010), and the only patients in that system are patients who have been seen in our clinic since April 2010.

Ergo, any patient seen in our clinic since April 2010 has a chart in AC. But that doesn't mean that chart is populated with anything more than demographic data.

We started using AC in March, and with that I started ePrescribing. Since I now use ePrescribing, all local pharmacies that are able to do so, send refill requests electronically, whereas they use to fax them.

This results in a refill request for a patient who may have been seen in February 2011, with an upcoming appointment in July - they have a chart in AC, but no records of any medications as we start putting clinical data into AC when the patient is seen.

So now I have a refill request, but no corresponding prescription to "match" it to, and therefore am unable to simply approve the request. And since it can't be matched, I can't "deny and rewrite" either. The only work around is to deny and create a new prescription in AC (in that order or vice versa).

Which leads me to wonder why the need to "match" prescriptions, and if anyone has found a better, quicker way to handle this problem.

Thanks. Again, I haven't done refill requests directly through AC yet, but what happens if you just ignore it. I suppose quite a few would build up.

Why can't you just deny and not create a new prescription? Would that mean that the patient would have to call you?

Finally, until you get everything up to speed in your charts, why can't you call, write, blast fax all your pharmacies and ask them not to send anymore refill requests. My pharmacy doesn't send refill requests for me, and I have no issue going calling my physician or making an appointment.

I guess I will have the same problem, and wonder what you all think about the issue.

I currently use DrFirst Rcopia for eRx. To avoid paying another $750 per year, and also to avoid declaring modular instead of complete certified EHR for Meaningful Use, I may want to switch to AC for eRx. All refill requests via AC will now be unmatched until I see the patient and initiate the prescription there. We have been using eRx and eRefills for a few years and really don't want to disrupt that. Denying all patients whom I might otherwise have refills does not sound like good service - there are, as others have stated, many reasons why a patient just seen would need a refill. Ideas?

I recently purchased AC and am just getting set up with the refill requests also. I have run into the same issue. the work around I have found is this:

right click on the refill request
choose open chart
double click the medication section of the most recent note and enter the prescription information (we are double checking it against the paper chart for now).
close the medication window and the patient chart
right click on the refill request, choose match
the patient and the medication should now match and the prescription can be sent back to the pharmacy.

I too, wish there was a streamline process such as when an unmatched script is requested, that an option to just add to chart is available, but it isn't in this version as far as i can tell.

One issue with Aaron's method - if you do this the qty will be blank - double clicking will not put in qty and I believe when you match it then it assumes you are saying the qty was already in there - will do the refills, but not record what qty you sent.

I hit no match and open chart send the regular way - you can also ask the pharmacy to continue faxing you for now and that will let you do them as a fax for a few months to get up to speed and have most entered.

I don't know much about it or if I am doing it right. Please tell me if how I do it is not the right way.

I just double click on the Med section of the refill request, which then opens a window with the correct script. I then click on OK if it is what I want to refill. I then see this in the refill request and click send.

DISSOLVE 1 TABLET IN THE MOUTH TWICE DAILY FOR 2 WEEKS THEN CALL OFFICE Disp: 28 Not Specified

Renewal above matched to:

3 po q AM and 2 po q HS for 2 weeks, then call office