Updates over the last six months span medical conditions including long COVID, diabetes, menopause, acute diverticulitis, GERD, and HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis
WATERTOWN, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–epocrates, an athenahealth, Inc. company that delivers digital clinical decision support to prescribers, today announced updates it has recently made to its decision support tool content, all of which provides clinicians with the most current information and independent expert guidance on evaluation and treatment of medical conditions. Availability of this information is critical to ensure clinicians have rapid access to the answers they need to make the best decisions at the point of care.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve and new observational and trial data emerge, medical societies update their recommendations accordingly. In 2021, epocrates made more than 160 COVID-19 related updates, with at least 40 updates in Q4 2021 alone. epocrates’ most recently launched decision tool, “Long COVID-19 Eval & Management,” focuses on the next phase of the pandemic, where the attention shifts to understanding the long-term effects of COVID. The tool arms front-line clinicians with the most recent algorithmic, easy-to-access, evidence-based guidance from industry experts so they can make informed decisions and provide the best care possible for patients presenting with symptoms of long COVID.
“As guidance from societies is emerging, some groups are leveraging evidence from non-COVID scenarios to manage long COVID symptoms, which affect roughly 10-30% of patients following a SARS-CoV-2 infection. We are just at the beginning of what appears will be a long, and likely challenging, journey when it comes to the care of patients with long COVID,” said Walt Hadikin, MD, director of clinical communications, epocrates. “Clinicians will need to be comfortable not having all the answers, and be open to the influx of new information, evidence, and guidance over the coming months and years. Our new long COVID interactive decision tool will ensure clinicians have the latest consensus guidance from independent experts, continuously updated, at their fingertips, enabling them to make the most informed care decisions today and in the months and years to come.”
This tool follows the Q4 2021 release of epocrates’ “COVID-19 vs. Flu: Quick Reference,” a resource that offers the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) latest expert guidance on the two conditions, so clinicians are better equipped to answer patient questions about the differences and similarities between the conditions, and to differentiate between the conditions for diagnosis. The COVID-19 vs. Flu: Quick Reference tool marked the 15th topic added to epocrates’ Guidelines and Decision Tools library in 2021, a 13% increase in new topics over year-end 2020, with more than 130 topics in the library, which is free to everyone using epocrates on mobile devices or online.
In addition to the new COVID-19 tools, other significant updates are continually being made to the following COVID-19 decision tools: COVID-19 Drug & Vaccine Updates, Consensus Guidelines for COVID-19 Drug Therapies, and the SARS-CoV-2 Variant-Based Monoclonal Antibody Selection Tool.
Aside from COVID-19, other important updates made to epocrates’ Guidelines library over the last six months include:
- Acute Diverticulitis Dx/Tx | ACP, AGA, ASCRS, ESCP, WSES Guideline Synthesis: Recommendations from the American College of Physicians and other expert groups around diverticulitis diagnosis and management, as well as the role of colonoscopy and interventions to prevent recurrence, are included in this exclusive epocrates guideline synthesis.
- Type 2 Diabetes Tx of Hyperglycemia: 2022 ADA Standards of Medical Care | epocrates Guideline Synopsis: Updates to the tool include the American Diabetes Association’s (ADA) new screening recommendations for diabetes and expanded first-line therapy options for type 2 diabetes. In addition to metformin, the ADA now advises considering medications such as GLP-1RAs and SGLT-2 inhibitors as initial treatment for managing hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes patients with comorbidities.
- GERD Dx & Tx | epocrates Guideline Synthesis: The new American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) GERD guideline addresses concerns about the use of long-term PPIs and outlines clinically important advances in surgical and endoscopic therapy. Clinicians can now compare ACG’s new guidance with that of other societies in epocrates’ exclusive guideline synthesis.
- Menopause Sx Mgmt | AACE, ACOG, NAMS Guideline Synthesis: While the industry consensus remains that hormone therapy is the most effective treatment for menopause symptoms, evidence about risks continues to emerge.
- Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV Prevention: 2021 CDC Guideline: The CDC reports that PrEP reduces the risk of getting HIV from sex by about 99% when taken as prescribed, with few side effects. The recently FDA-approved injectable cabotegravir (Apretude) was added as a grade IA treatment option in the CDC’s updated HIV PrEP guideline, and this important update has been incorporated into epocrates’ point of care guideline synopsis, along with when and how to use the medication and other PrEP options.
“While providing the latest information and guidelines around COVID-19 has been a primary focus for our team over the past several months, we have also made critical updates to many other important disease areas in which research is evolving quickly, from type 2 diabetes to diverticulitis,” said J. Acey Albert, MD, FACP, director, clinical content at epocrates. “We are committed to continually updating and adding innovative new tools to the resource, so that clinicians can make confident care decisions and find the specific information they need for their patients. This is all the more important given that clinicians are dealing with information overload and welcome support with staying current on the latest independent recommendations and guidelines from industry experts and government agencies. To that end, we look forward to accelerating the number of tools we launch and update this year.”
For more information about epocrates’ evidence-based, patient-specific guidelines from national specialty societies, please visit: https://online.epocrates.com/guidelines.
About epocrates
Since 1998, epocrates, an athenahealth, Inc. company, has served essential, clinical content to more than one million physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals. Centered around unparalleled drug prescribing and safety information, the app provides fast answers and trusted decision support in seconds at the point of care, enabling clinicians to focus on delivering the most effective and personalized patient care. Our Medical Information team is committed to providing accurate, current, unbiased and clinically relevant information, which is why epocrates has been rated as the #1 medical reference app for over a decade. For more information, please visit: www.epocrates.com.
Contacts
Hannah Purviance
epocratesMedia@athenahealth.com
617-402-1661
