By Heather B. HayesApril 8, 2008
The Food and Drug Administration can now send patient safety alerts electronically to the e-mail boxes of health care providers via the recently unveiled Health Care Notification Network. The HCNN is a secure online service developed cooperatively over a three-year period by the FDA, health plans, liability carriers, drug and medical product manufacturers and hospital and physician groups.
Previously, physicians received the safety alerts, also known as "Dear Doctor" letters, via the U.S. mail. In many cases, the letters never reached their intended recipients, saidJanet Woodcock, acting director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
"Gatekeepers often discard these important paper-based alerts as ‘junk mail,’ " she said in a statement. The media, meanwhile, got the same information electronically, which often resulted in patients knowing about drug recalls or warnings before their physicians.
Dr. Nancy Dickey, former director of the American Medical Association and chair of the iHealth Alliance, the nonprofit board that governs the HCNN service, called the reliance on the U.S. mail system to send patient safety alerts "indefensible and unsafe."
In surveys, more than 90 percent of physicians indicated their desire for e-mail alerts, which are expected to not only improve patient safety but also reduce professional liability and paperwork. Tens of thousands of physicians have already signed up through outreach efforts undertaken by liability carriers.
Health care providers must enroll in HCNN (www.hcnn.net) to receive patient safety alerts via e-mail. If an enrollee fails to open an electronic alert, the system will automatically send a paper-based alert in the mail, as it will continue to do for health care providers who don’t sign up.
The HCNN system, which is operated by Medem and funded by health care manufacturers who use the online network, will also be available for rapid communication with physicians in the event of an emergency public health or bioterror event.