VeriMed Introduces RADAR(SM): The First Patient Risk Assessment Empowering Pain Physicians To Identify Patients Who May Abuse Or Divert Prescription Drugs
Eight Pain Management Centers Nationwide Currently Beta Testing RADAR(SM)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. and NEW YORK, Dec. 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- VeriMed, a company that has developed technologies to create a safer and more transparent supply chain for controlled substances, today announced the launch of its Risk Assessment of Diversion and Aberrancy (RADARSM), a psychometric assessment that evaluates a patient's risk of abusing or diverting (i.e. selling) prescription medication.
Historically, pain physicians have used assessments that have focused mainly on a patient's likelihood to abuse controlled substances but not their likelihood to exhibit deceptive or manipulative behavior – characteristics that VeriMed believes are at the heart of diversion. RADARSM identifies three specific diversion classifications and six aberrancy categories, providing the physician with a broad baseline of critical information prior to the patient entering the examination room.
"There is a prescription drug epidemic in the U.S., and doctors have become increasingly exposed to the liability of prescribing medication to patients who will abuse and/or divert medication," said Philip E. Gaucher Jr., founder and CEO, VeriMed. "RADARSM gives physicians a picture of a patient's relationship with their medication, offering vital patient information prior to the physician writing a prescription."
"RADARSM provides a snapshot of a patient's mental health, helping doctors validate those patients who are good candidates for pain medication and are perhaps less likely to abuse or divert prescription drugs. By helping reduce exposure to liability, RADARSM allows physicians to focus on providing the best possible care rather than spending time attempting to figure out whether a patient is being truthful regarding his or her needs," said Dr. Michael Trombley, chief medical officer of Pain Management Providers in North Carolina, a beta test participant.
VeriMed has developed six parallel versions of RADARSM to reduce a patient's ability to memorize content from earlier tests and intentionally cheat (known as a carry-over effect). A random, five-minute, non-repetitive version of RADARSM is completed electronically each time a patient visits his or her physician. To create RADARSM, VeriMed partnered with Dr. Carina Fiedeldey-Van Dijk, president of ePsy Consulting, who is a renowned research psychologist specializing in the development and validation of psychometric assessments.
Currently, there are five pain management centers in North Carolina and Tennessee, with a total of 4,000 patients, beta testing RADARSM.
RADARSM is an important component of the overall VeriMed solution. The information collected from RADARSM, in conjunction with other critical patient data, is aggregated into the VeriMed Information Portal, which uses data analytics to flag patients at risk for abuse or diversion. Once the physician has decided to prescribe medication, he or she can then send the prescription to be filled at the VeriMed Pharmacy, where pharmacists also have access to the Information Portal data to fulfill their corresponding responsibility per the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. Finally, if a patient is determined to be a risk, the physician can request that the pharmacist dispense the medication in the VeriPak™, which provides a timestamp when medication is removed.
About VeriMed
VeriMed has developed technologies to create a more secure and transparent supply chain for controlled substances. Through VeriMed's mix of proprietary technology and services, stakeholders along the controlled substances supply chain, including providers/doctors, wholesalers and pharmacists, may have access to HIPAA-compliant patient data that can be used to help mitigate the risk of substance abuse and drug diversion. There are four components to the VeriMed System: the VeriMed Information Portal, the VeriMed Patient Risk Assessment, the VeriMed Pharmacy and the VeriPak™.
VeriMed was founded by Philip E. Gaucher Jr. Mr. Gaucher, an entrepreneur with a proven track record, was most recently co-founder of Shale-Inland, an industrial conglomerate with approximately $750 million in annual revenue.
Contact:
Danielle DeVoren / Renatta Siewert
212.896.1272 / 212-896-1251
[email protected] / [email protected]
SOURCE VeriMed
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