Building a better online formulary

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Pharmacy Management

Background:

• The University of Michigan Health System (UMHS) has evolved its inpatient online formulary through three distinct versions since 1997.
• Early versions lacked search functionality, therapeutic cross-referencing, and cost information, requiring manual maintenance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the historical development and significant improvements of the UMHS inpatient online formulary.
• To highlight the transition to a dynamic, searchable, and comprehensive digital formulary system.

Main Methods:

• Initial conversion of documents to HTML.
• Implementation of daily automated data downloads from the inpatient pharmacy system.
• Integration of advanced search logic, therapeutic category cross-indexing, and direct linking to drug repositories.

Main Results:

• The second formulary version introduced searchable databases, therapeutic cross-referencing, cost data, and automated updates, reducing maintenance.
• The current version enhances search capabilities by linking to the full drug repository and suggesting therapeutically similar agents.
• A cross-index feature provides comprehensive drug listings within therapeutic categories.

Conclusions:

• The UMHS inpatient online formulary has undergone dramatic improvements, offering a low-cost, maintainable, and effective information access tool.
• The current system provides timely and clinically relevant medication information, enhancing user experience and pharmacy management.