July 7,2020

Providers across multiple care settings require technology that supports clinical collaboration (including telehealth), medication and clinical management, medication reconciliation, and medication adherence. After an extensive review of the U.S. digital health data market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes DrFirst for its range of technology solutions that address these four main healthcare challenges, drive safer care, and foster better health outcomes.

Specifically, Frost & Sullivan has named DrFirst the winner of its 2020 U.S. New Product Innovation Award in recognition of how the company continuously evolves its technology to lead in response to healthcare needs. This year, DrFirst has introduced offerings that bridge the information gap to payer clinical data and added telehealth, e-signature, and form support to meet the needs of physicians, pharmacists, dentists, patients, payers, and electronic health record (EHR) and electronic medical record (EMR) solution providers.

"DrFirst is well-positioned across the healthcare industry, both as a direct supplier or a partner, to address the need for better access not only to data but to usable information that improves the delivery of patient care," said Victor Camlek, Frost & Sullivan research manager. "The recent COVID-19 pandemic has changed healthcare forever. Over the next decade, every sector within healthcare will have an increased need for new and innovative products and services that close gaps between information and people. DrFirst's strategy to lead the evolution of healthcare by securely connecting people at every touchpoint of care will give the company a significant edge in the long term."                                                                                     

In its award report, Frost & Sullivan acknowledges the unique benefits of DrFirst's solutions, among them:

• Backline care collaboration platform, which enables telehealth, instant sharing of clinical data and documents, patient updates, and provider instructions among a patient's care team and the patient. Clinicians can engage patients via telehealth; collaborate with the care team via secure chat; share HIPAA-compliant messages, images, files, and videos; complete and manage e-forms, and send patient reminders. Unlike other telehealth options, Backline maintains continuity of care by connecting patients with their current medical team, rather than with a random telehealth physician.

• CareComplete, which gives providers actionable information from payers at the point of care within EHR workflow without logging into multiple external portals. Doctors see patient-specific benefits and price transparency, as well as clinical and prior authorization information in near real-time, to better understand a patient's health plan benefits as well as medical and medication history.
  
  iPrescribe (mobile), Rcopia (in-office), and EPCS Gold medication management systems, which give clinicians e-prescribing capabilities within EHR workflows, provide access to medication histories and formularies, deliver drug interaction alerts, and support the electronic prescribing of controlled substances. The iPrescribe mobile app allows clinicians to prescribe whenever and wherever they are and can be used in conjunction with any EHR, or none at all. Rcopia can be used alone or integrated into more than 320 EHR platforms. EPCS Gold was the first-ever solution for controlled substance e-prescribing in the U.S.

• MedHx, which increases the accuracy of imported medication history, reducing the risk of dangerous medication errors and adverse drug events due to missing and poor-quality prescription data and keyboard errors. SmartSig, a patented AI technology used within MedHx translates, infers, and normalizes prescription instructions into structured and discrete components that can be used by hospitals' electronic health record systems.

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents its U.S. New Product Innovation Award to a company that has developed an innovative element in a product by leveraging leading-edge technologies. The award recognizes the value-added features and benefits of the product and the increased return on investment it affords customers, which, in turn, raises customer acquisition and market penetration potential.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.