Using OpenEMR to write prescriptions

Is anyone using Openemr to write and send prescriptions to pharmacies?

I have used Allscripts (now veradigm) for years and have cut and pasted the Rx’s from veradigm into my chartnote on OpenEMR.

The veradigm platform is the slowest and most bothersome part of my daily practice. Is is slow and limiting.

Does anyone have a better solution?

I have used Veradigm with the Greasemonkey script for years. The trouble is, as you point out, there is no way for Veradigm to talk back to Openemr and update the prescriptions tab. I had someone write a script that did just that but when Firefox upgraded, the script stopped working.

I switched to Weno this year it seems to be working ok. It is not the most full featured interface.
I only had one pharmacy send my Rx back and tell me that that there was not signature.
The NCPDP # and fax # of the pharmacy can be obtained from the Veradigm website when you click the “more” button next to the pharmacy and the Openemr pharamcy contact info can be updated

Hi albanyeye,

I used greasemonkey for a time and I believe I did use it with FireFox. But, as you say, an update or two later and greasemonkey stopped working and no one gave instruction on how to make it work again.

I now use Chrome.

I will have to research about Weno. Does it cost you anything and if so how much?

Allscripts was free, then they started charging $9 per month and since I have a delegating physician, it costs me $18 per month.

Are the instructions for setting up Weno in the OpenEMR forums?

Weno is easy enough and the drug database has the stuff i prescribe. It is free (for now).
It is easy to setup.
I followed the following instructions and have not had issues. I called them up and got the pharmacy database for my state, then I culled that down to pharmacies just my city and nearby areas and imported it into the openemr table. Was a bit of work but end in the end was worth it.
I make sure that the front check in staff selects a pharmacy for the patient.

https://www.open-emr.org/wiki/index.php/OpenEMR_ePrescribe


I use MDTOOLBOX.com to handle every aspect of the medications. OpenEMR notes simply refer to MDTOOLBOX for the reconciled and prescribed meds. It’s futile to attempt to manually reconcile medications across various systems in the prescribing workflow, refills, etc. etc. MDTOOLBOX.com is awesome in countless ways (besides reliability and reasonable cost … blowing the more expensive Allscripts clunker out of the water in terms of logical organization and speed), from meaningful use and controlled substances prescribing to electronic refills and strong auditing capabilities (always great when the pharmacy tries to tell the patient that they never received a prescription for XYZ). If I’m really bored, I might cut and paste the medication list into a note but usually I’m not that bored. Allscripts did have some nice price comparison features and automatic GOODRX coupon integration that MDTOOLBOX has not developed to that degree but MDTOOLBOX is just much more logical, powerful, efficient and cost-effective overall. I am perfectionistic enough to put some of the key medications into the medications section of OpenEMR just so that I can track what notes pertain to what meds … but that’s completely unnecessary.

As a developer, MDTOOLBOX.com won’t talk to me about integration. They will only work directly with a doctor. I have tried over the years to the point they know my name. But there is no way to get it in the code base as an option like NewCrops or Weno.

Just and FYI.

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Thanks everyone for their comments. I have investigated MDtoolbox and Weno. Does anyone use NewCrops or have any comment about Newcrops?

Hi Jeff; All-
I haven’t used the other eRx apps that have been mentioned but I have supported NewCrop on OpenEMR for several years now. Please note I am not a NewCrop employee and I don’t think it’s the greatest thing since the pen and prescription pad. It certainly has its idiosyncrasies but it does eRx pretty well.

It scales well from small through high- volume practices, and especially if you want to e-prescribe controlled substances (EPCS), I don’t know of an eRx package compatible with OpenEMR that works better.

NewCrop is totally integrated with OpenEMR, to the point that the native medication, prescription and allergies modules are disabled when NewCrop is activated.

Med reconciliation is a manual process, where you keep 2 screens open simultaneously and visually compare them, but our Docs (or their nurses!) seem to have found that acceptable.

Yes, NewCrop only functions with US pharmacies located in the US.

NewCrop handles all insurance billing and preauthorizations, the pharmacy databases, the med / allergies conflicts alerts.

NewCrop works through certified vendors rather than being something you can install and maintain on your own system like weno. You can get NewCrop if you subscribe to a forked OpenEMR system, or some vendors will work with you on your own OpenEMR instance. Costs vary depending on the vendor, of course, but when the choice is between ditching OpenEMR to migrate to a much more expensive EMR so you can get a break on a less capable eRx solution, NewCrop on your own OpenEMR usually wins out.
Rgds- Harley

I should give NewCrop a try if not for the the e-prescribe controlled substances reason alone.
How much is it per month?

As I say, NewCrop subscriptions are managed by certified vendors who have different costs and therefore different prices for the subscriptions, and I only know what my company charges. I work with MI-Squared, and if you look in the ‘professional vendors’ section of the OpenEMR online presence I’m sure you can find others.
I’m not comfortable soliciting business on the forum; if you look at the other vendors and decide you’d like more information from us, please email me at htuck@mi-squared.com and we can discuss it privately.
Thanks! - Harley

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Good day Sir,

I am doing some work for a company who is looking to make the change from New Crops to Veradigm. Your comment here is now 2+ years old and I was wondering if your thoughts remain the same in support of New Crops or if you have had some experience with Veradigm during that time that might be useful in making an updated comparison.

I appreciate your time and the info provided in your original comment as well as any additional information you may be able to provide.

Regards,

Daniel

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Hi Daniel,

I never began to use New Crops. I am still using Veradigm. I pay $35 per month for their service but admit they really stepped up their game and sped the system up so that it is no longer a burden to use them.

Sincerely,

Jeff Guillory

For my part, having made the original comment, I still have no experience with Veradigm so have no comparison to offer. But thanks, Jeff, for the update, that’s always good to know.

  • HT

I appreciate your input and thanks for your time.

I am an MD that uses MDTOOLBOX. I would love to work together to see if we could integrate with OpenEMR. .

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same here.
I had tried WENO in June, but had significant trouble with controlled substances in Rochester, NY area. Pharmacies would not honor the scripts, so I am using MDToolbox. Wish there was a way to export the med listing on MDToolbox to XML for import.
Mark Sarnov

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Wish there was a way to export the med listing on MDToolbox to XML for import.

Have you tried copying and pasting the medications in a listing or using an Rx Listing report and then exporting the report?

It looks like they have some data synchronization features. I’ll ask them if any of those options might work with OpenEMR 6.0.
–RBL

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Turns out that MDTOOLBOX offers specialized patient synchronization, but they have a $700 setup fee that I cannot justify.
RBL

Hi Jeff,

Do you happen to have insight into what the integration process for Veradigm is? or if there is one into OpenEMR? Trying to decide between that and NewCorp because I need ECPS.

Thanks,
Preeti

Hi Daniel,

What did your company end up going with and do you have any additional feedback?

Thanks,
Preeti