New Jersey insurer invests in medication safety initiative

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey (Horizon BCBSNJ) will invest up to $500,000 in select network hospitals to facilitate the installation of electronic medication history technology to improve patient safety, the Centre Daily Times of State College, PA, reported July 7.

 

“The impressive and valuable part of this program is that when patients check into a hospital or emergency room their medication histories will be known in real time," Richard Popiel, MD, vice president and chief medical officer of Horizon BCBSNJ told the newspaper. “Physicians will have immediate access to medications the patient is currently taking or may have taken in the past. This will make hospital visits safer, more efficient and reduce the chance of adverse drug reactions to medications administered to patients. The program will be 100% private and secure.”

 

Horizon BCBSNJ is the first insurer in the nation to invest in this safety initiative, the newspaper reported.

 

Click here to read the Centre Daily Times article.