The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care has released an updated toolkit to combat the high incidence of medication errors in ambulatory care settings.
The updated guidance takes into account the importance of documenting patient's vitamins, nutritional supplements and over-the-counter drugs across different stages of healthcare delivery, according to an Aug. 21 press release sent to Becker's.
The toolkit gives ambulatory facilities forms for a patient’s medications in both primary and surgical/procedural settings and provides insights on interventions and the impact of electronic health records.
Medication errors account for 3.5 million physician office visits and one million emergency room visits per year, and generate nearly $21 billion in associated health care costs annually according to the release.
AAAHC has more than 6,700 accredited organizations, including ASCs, endoscopy centers and office-based surgery facilities.