title: Pharmacotherapy quality improvement: use of a clinical rule-based application.
abstract: Heritage's drug usage evaluation (DUE) program focuses on analyzing the dynamics of prescribing, dispensing, and medication usage data for insurers, managed care organizations (MCO), and others involved in the management of pharmacotherapy in the ambulatory care setting. The addition of a new clinical rules-based system (Athena) has increased the flexibility, scope, and speed of Heritage quality improvement products. Its integration into benchmarking, profiling, and disease management programs is described.
authors.affiliation: Heritage Information Systems, Inc., VCU School of Pharmacy, VA, USA.
authors.forename: K W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Kolb
mesh_terms: D019090:Case Management; D016303:Clinical Pharmacy Information Systems; D017046:Cost Savings; D019468:Disease Management; D004358:Drug Therapy / Q000592:standards*; D017723:Drug Utilization Review / Q000592:standards*; D007345:Insurance Claim Review; D007356:Insurance, Pharmaceutical Services / Q000191:economics; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D017749:Total Quality Management; D014481:United States