ASHP guidelines on remote medication order processing.

Purpose Because of the complexity of the care that pharmacists provide patients, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) advocates that patients have 24-hour access to the pharmacist responsible for their care, and that the pharmacist be physically accessible to the patient when feasible. ASHP recognizes that such access is not always possible and encourages the development of remotely delivered pharmacist care as a supplement to onsite care. Medication order review is one aspect of pharmacist patient care. All health-system pharmacies have an obligation to provide a review of medication orders that ensures safe medication use. When onsite pharmacist review is not available, health systems may determine that remote pharmacist review of medication orders is a suitable alternative. The purpose of these guidelines is to describe the policies and procedures that must be in place to safely employ remote medication order processing (RMOP). Health-system policies and procedures regarding RMOP should address quality assurance and safety; access to drug information and hospital policy resources; training and orientation; minimum technical standards and specifications; confidentiality, privacy, and security; regulatory and accreditation standards; and communication and problem resolution. These guidelines also describe some general considerations for RMOP implementation, and Appendix A provides a checklist for assessing implementation readiness. Appendix B contains an outline of a model agreement for RMOP. A glossary of terms used in these guidelines is also appended.