A Digital Health System to Assist Family Physicians to Safely Prescribe NOAC Medications

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Health Informatics
• Medical Decision Support

Background:

• Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is a prevalent cardiac arrhythmia.
• Current anticoagulant therapies, including New Oral Anticoagulants (NOACs), are underutilized due to complex prescription processes.
• Canada's provincial Pharmacare programs require a tedious, paper-based special authorization for NOACs, hindering optimal AF management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a computerized system to aid physicians in prescribing NOACs for AF.
• To streamline the NOAC special authorization process for patients in Canadian provincial benefits programs.
• To improve the quality of AF care by facilitating NOAC access.

Main Methods:

• Development of a NOAC Authorization Decision Support System (NOAC-ADSS).
• Utilizing semantic web technologies and ontologies to model NOAC eligibility criteria.
• Implementing a system to execute knowledge for determining patient eligibility and dosage.

Main Results:

• The NOAC-ADSS provides physicians with a tool to assess patient eligibility for NOACs based on Canadian AF guidelines.
• The system assists in completing the special authorization form, reducing administrative burden.
• Ontological modeling enables accurate and efficient determination of NOAC eligibility and dosage.

Conclusions:

• The NOAC-ADSS offers a practical solution to the challenges in prescribing NOACs for AF patients.
• This system has the potential to optimize AF care by improving access to effective anticoagulant therapy.
• Digitalizing the authorization process can significantly enhance physician efficiency and patient outcomes.