A patient called me today with a quick question. He had some medication questions. Luckily the EHR had a working list of his diagnoses, and a reconciled list of his medications.Why is that important right now? I was able to quickly review his chart. His primary care doctor wanted to put him on gemfibrozil and atorvastatin, and he wondered if that was okay. He checked for himself on the internet already. The combination of those two meds carry an increased risk of myopathy and rhabdomyolosis (I like big words, and I can spell them, too!). The alert system

of the EHR caught that nasty drug interaction when I ran it through. Personally, I like that point of care safety mechanism. Not only does it save my patients

from iatrogenic errors and possible harm, but it saves me time from having to field a pharmacy call (not to mention the possible embarrassment of not having known that risk, we

physicians can't possibly know it all). Also, it instills confidence in my patients that I know what I'm doing and looking out for their best interests. Isn't it time all

providers have this safety mechanism automatically built in to their practice workflow? For one, I don't want to make any avoidable mistakes. The patient was

informed not to take the combination, and we sought a better solution.