Drug Safety Concerns Drive National 'Know the Label' Campaign

MONTVALE, N.J., Jan. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- PDR Network, The Doctors Company and other professional liability carriers and their partners today announced a new national "Know the Label" campaign to improve drug and patient safety in the United States. At the center of the campaign is a new online service where physicians can earn free continuing medical education ("CME") credits by reading or reviewing the full FDA-approved labeling for the most commonly prescribed drugs. The new service is being delivered to all U.S. physicians and other healthcare providers electronically via the websites of PDR Network, the liability carriers, other partners, and via electronic health records systems ("EHRs"), which are being rapidly adopted by physicians as a result of underwriting by the federal government, U.S. health plans and hospitals.

"Keeping current on FDA-approved drug labeling enhances patient safety and reduces professional liability risk," explained David Troxel, M.D., medical director for The Doctors Company, the country's largest professional liability carrier. "Busy physicians can find themselves unaware of all information in the drug labels or of changes to the labels for the medications they prescribe. The 'Know the Label' campaign and the CME credits we are providing with PDR Network to all U.S. physicians, at no charge, is a key part of our effort to motivate physicians to review the labels on a regular basis and stay abreast of the details for the drugs they prescribe."

National statistics confirm that nearly 30 percent of medical malpractice suits involve pharmaceuticals, and the FDA-approved labeling is often the standard to which physicians are held in these suits.

A White Paper commissioned by PDR Network from the medical malpractice defense specialists, Vaslas, Lepowsky, Hauss & Danke LLP, and recently published in the Food and Drug Law Institute's Update magazine surveys hundreds of medical malpractice lawsuits in key jurisdictions and highlights the direct link between FDA-approved labeling and the standard to which physicians are held in U.S. court. Notable in the paper is the quote, "A physician's first reading of the full FDA-approved drug label should not occur during trial prep."  

"We commissioned this legal review because over 25 percent of drugs have clinically relevant changes to their FDA-approved labels annually," explained Edward Fotsch, M.D., CEO of PDR Network, which provides digital drug information and services to U.S. physicians, and publishes the Physicians' Desk Reference. "The mission of PDR for 65 years has been to deliver important drug information to physicians and other U.S. prescribers. 'Know the Label' services now deliver additional value online via our many partners, including EHR vendors."

The "Know the Label" campaign is being launched in concert with the FDA's efforts to provide up-to-date and complete prescribing information to physicians.

"We know that physicians and other prescribers are increasingly busy and can struggle to find time to stay current with all the changes in pharmaceutical labeling," explained Janet Woodcock, M.D., director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the FDA. "We congratulate The Doctors Company and PDR Network for finding a practical and novel way for physicians to access the full updated labeling through electronic means and have it available at the point of prescribing. This effort dovetails nicely with our Safe Use Initiative and our intent to reduce preventable harm from pharmaceutical products."

"Full updated FDA-approved drug labeling is an important service for physicians, and integration into their EHRs is key to making this information available at the point of care," noted Michael Stearns, M.D., president and CEO of e-MDs, Inc., a leading national EHR vendor. "We are pleased to be delivering this service in our partnership with PDR Network and to offer the additional benefit of free CME to our physicians." 

"Our cloud-based EHR platform, athenaClinicals®, allows athenahealth to provide up-to-date information to our physicians," explained Evan Grossman, vice president of product strategy for athenahealth. "The PDR information and drug Alerts are an example of the importance of real-time updates for busy providers where athenahealth and PDR do the work and integration, and the physicians benefit, including free CME."

Physicians are required to obtain CME credits to maintain their state licensure to practice medicine. Many states require patient safety focused CME and often physicians must pay to take CME-accredited courses.

For more information, visit www.thedoctors.com or www.pdrnetwork.com.

About athenahealth

athenahealth, Inc. is a leading provider of web-based business services for medical groups. athenahealth's service offerings are based on proprietary web-native practice management and electronic health record (EHR) software, a continuously updated payer knowledge-base, integrated back-office service operations, and automated and live patient communication services. For more information, please visit www.athenahealth.com or call (888) 652-8200.

About e-MDs

e-MDs is a leading developer of healthcare software solutions headquartered in Austin, Texas. The company, founded in 1996 by a primary care physician, remains physician and clinical informaticist managed and actively participates in national health information technology and interoperability efforts. e-MDs Solution Series™, with more than 30,000 users nationwide, is the standard for affordable and integrated EHR and practice management software solutions, including clinical, financial and document management modules designed to automate medical practice processes and chart management. e-MDs' Solution Series version 6.3 is a CCHIT Certified® 2008 Ambulatory EHR additionally certified for Cardiovascular Medicine and Child Health. The e-MDs Solution Series' comprehensive suite of products facilitates improvements in clinical care, a reduction in medical errors and optimization of business practices. As testimony to our focus on ease of use and functionality, e-MDs has ranked at the top of all independent, unbiased, physician surveys thus far. For more information, please visit www.e-mds.com.

About The Doctors Company

Founded by doctors for doctors in 1976, The Doctors Company (www.thedoctors.com) is relentlessly committed to advancing, protecting and rewarding the practice of good medicine. The Doctors Company is the largest national insurer of physician and surgeon medical liability with 55,000 member physicians, $3 billion in assets, an A rating by Fitch Ratings and an A- rating by A.M. Best Company.

About PDR Network

PDR Network, LLC is the leading distributor of drug labeling information, product safety Alerts and REMS programs, including Physicians' Desk Reference (PDR®), the most highly trusted and commonly used drug information reference available in the U.S., PDR.net, mobilePDR® and Health Care Notification Network (HCNN), the only service providing specialty-specific electronic delivery of FDA-approved safety Alerts to physicians and other healthcare providers. HCNN is governed by the not-for-profit iHealth Alliance. For more information, visit www.pdrnetwork.com.

SOURCE PDR Network