Epocrates app adds content from CDC, AHRQ, NCCN

Epocrates, Inc., an athenahealth company and provider of the top medical app for U.S. physicians, has expanded collaborations with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN). The goal of the collaboration is to deliver valuable content to clinicians on their mobile devices at the point of care.

CDC will work with Epocrates to provide information on imunization updates, emerging resistant bacteria, local disease outbreaks, and more. Epocrates has the ability to microtarget mobile alerts to clinicians by region or specialty to ensure relevant content is being received in mobile format.

For the Epocrates online product, CDC has hand-selected patient education handouts on topics such as weight management and STIs for clinicians to print out or email to patients.

AHRQ will provide up-to-date information through the National Guideline Clearinghouse as well as issue comparative effectiveness reports that provide a basis for clinical decision-making. Epocrates has selected more than 35 AHRQ guidelines for its targeted DocAlert messaging system. Timely and convenient delivery of these guidelines has helped impact treatment for GERD, drug allergy, and cancer screening.

The AHRQ electronic preventive services selector tool (EPSS) is also available in the free Epocrates app.

The company also recently expanded its free app based on the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines). The four-star-rated iPhone app provides quick access to NCCN Guidelines, such as those on prostate, breast, and colon cancers (with additional tumor types forthcoming.)