Duplicate medication alerts are intended to detect inappropriate duplication of therapeutic groups in a medication or the concurrent use of a branded drug and a generic drug with the same active ingredient. A case study over the course of a year published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association tested the effect of a duplicate medication alert system on a patient population, finding that although the alerts did not often change prescriptions, they did lead to more patient instruction and more frequent updates to the patient’s medical record.
Duplicate medication prescriptions have long been a problem in a disjointed medical system. Even in the era of EHRs, many patients have received duplicate prescriptions in error. One study published in January 2012 by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found that lack of coordination between care providers in a hospital led to a significant increase in duplicate prescriptions after the implementation of a computerized physician order entry system.
The duplicate medication alert is intended to rectify that lack of communication. In most cases in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association study, the alerts went out because a patient fills a prescription too early, but the researchers did find that it encouraged safe drug use by more carefully tracking prescription refills, which can be a sign of overuse.
