Formulary Hosting
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the Epocrates Health Plan Formulary Service?
- What is the Epocrates Hospital Formulary Service?
- What are the key benefits to my pharmacy of the Epocrates Formulary Hosting Service?
- How does a clinician access the clinical and formulary information?
- How does the formulary manager maintain the formulary information with Epocrates?
- What IT resources are required?
- How do I sign my health care organization up for the Epocrates Formulary Service?
What is the Epocrates Health Plan Formulary Service?
The Epocrates Formulary Service allows health plans to integrate their formulary information with trusted clinical information in the Epocrates drug references. Physicians and other prescribers can access multiple formularies on their mobile or desktop computer helping to maintain compliance and increasing provider satisfaction. Formulary managers can update their formulary and clinical information easily and frequently using a simple web-based loading tool.
What is the Epocrates Hospital Formulary Service?
The Epocrates-AHFS Formulary Service allows hospitals to integrate their formulary information with trusted clinical information in the Epocrates and AHFS Drug Information® drug references. Hospital pharmacists, physicians, and staff will be able to access their hospital formulary information on a mobile or a desktop computer helping to maintain formulary compliance and reducing administrative inefficiencies. Formulary managers will be able to update their formulary and clinical information easily and frequently using a simple web-based loading tool. The AHFS DI database will be available on desktops throughout the institution, via Epocrates Online + AHFS® DI – an important resource for medical, pharmacy, and nursing staff.
What are the key benefits to my pharmacy of the Epocrates Formulary Hosting Service?
- Helps improve patient care and safety
- Helps manage rising drug and administrative costs by increasing therapeutic substitution, inventory controls and operational efficiency
- Provides up-to-date information and eliminates the need and cost of printed formulary books
- Requires almost no IT resources – available on a mobile or desktop computer
- Increases satisfaction among clinicians by providing pharmacists, physicians, and other healthcare professionals with a single source for clinical and formulary information at the point-of-care
- Supports JCAHO compliance for hospitals
How does a clinician access the clinical and formulary information?
Accessing formulary information is simple to do in the Epocrates drug references on PDA or desktop computers. The formulary status of each drug appears next to the drug name. If the drug is not on the formulary, the user can view the list of alternative drugs with one click. To look up detailed formulary information, the user clicks on the formulary status code. To look up drug dosing and other information, the clinician clicks on the drug name to access the Epocrates drug monograph.
How does the formulary manager maintain the formulary information with Epocrates?
When a health care organization or hospital partners with Epocrates for the Epocrates Formulary Hosting Service, the formulary manager works with Epocrates to load its formulary status codes into the Epocrates system. There are NO Information Technology resources required for loading and updating the formulary information. The formulary manager can also add drug-specific messages for each drug that will display in a pop-up window along with the formulary status. The formulary manager can update the institution’s formulary codes and custom clinical messages monthly, ensuring that hospital staff always has access to current formulary information at the point of care.
What IT resources are required?
Integrating your organization’s formulary into the Epocrates database requires no IT resources.
How do I sign my health care organization up for the Epocrates Formulary Service?
Please use our contact form, or call 650-227-1777, and an Epocrates representative will get in touch with you.