Hurricane Irma is expected to cause catastrophic destruction across Puerto Rico, Florida, and possibly other states, even as the Gulf Coast is working to recover from Hurricane Harvey. Many healthcare facilities and pharmacies are already unavailable for extended periods, and others soon will be. As the waters subside, patients in affected areas may be displaced, many care locations will be temporarily closed, and prescribing patterns could be disrupted due to evacuations, power outages, and massive flooding across the region.
To help address these healthcare delivery challenges, DrFirst is offering its mobile medication platform, iPrescribeSM, free for all prescribers in the hurricane affected and evacuation support areas. Physicians can use iPrescribe to access patients’ medication history, ensuring that providers have the critical information they need to extend effective care. In addition, physicians will be able to write electronic prescriptions for patients and direct them to an available pharmacy to fill the prescriptions. In addition to offering the free mobile app, DrFirst is providing on-call emergency registration.
Existing DrFirst customers, which include more than 300 EHR partners, in hurricane-affected states including Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, and North Carolina. The affected states may be expanded as other areas are declared federal disaster or states of emergency based on the path of Hurricane Irma. All interested parties should text to 66866 and use keyword IPRESCRIBE to initiate the process.
Organizations in affected areas that are not currently DrFirst clients are also eligible for this offer, including those utilizing any EHR system or ambulatory EHR practice management systems. All interested parties should text to 66866 and use keyword IPRESCRIBE to initiate the process.
Disaster relief organizations, such as the Red Cross, are eligible for this offer for all prescribing providers supporting these organizations. All interested parties should text to 66866 and use keyword IPRESCRIBE to initiate the process.
“The practice of medicine cannot be put on hold because of natural disasters,” said G. Cameron Deemer, president of DrFirst. “DrFirst wants to make its resources and technology available to all providers to help ensure care delivery. During a disaster, healthcare is paramount even when provider facilities are not available.”
