About
First Databank (FDB) is the world's most trusted drug database and medication decision support solution, serving a wide range of healthcare stakeholders including hospitals, retail pharmacies, payers, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), long-term care facilities, and veterinary providers. FDB provides comprehensive, clinically curated drug knowledge that powers critical workflows such as drug alert management, drug claims processing, electronic prescribing, computerized physician order entry (CPOE), and medication reconciliation. FDB's solutions are designed to integrate seamlessly into existing health IT infrastructure, enriching electronic health records (EHRs) and electronic medication administration records (eMAR) with actionable, clinically relevant data. Its Drug Utilization Review (DUR) capabilities support both prospective and retrospective analysis, helping providers catch potential drug interactions, contraindications, and adherence issues before they impact patient care. Beyond clinical settings, FDB also supports payer and PBM operations with drug formulary management and drug pricing analysis tools that enable cost-effective, evidence-based formulary decisions. The platform serves ambulatory, behavioral health, home health, hospital, and long-term care settings, making it one of the most versatile medication intelligence platforms available. FDB is trusted by healthcare organizations globally in the USA, Canada, the UK, the Middle East, and other international markets to support safer, smarter medication management.
Key Features
- Drug Alert Management: Delivers clinically meaningful and actionable drug alerts that clinicians accept, helping prevent adverse drug events at the point of care.
- EHR & CPOE Integration: Embeds drug knowledge directly into electronic health records and computerized physician order entry systems to enhance clinical decision support.
- Drug Claims Processing & Formulary Management: Supports payers and PBMs with tools to enhance claim accuracy, manage drug formularies, and analyze drug pricing for cost-effective decisions.
- Drug Utilization Review (DUR): Enables both prospective and retrospective drug utilization reviews to identify safety risks, improve adherence, and enhance patient outcomes.
- Medication Reconciliation & ePrescribing: Facilitates accurate medication reconciliation during care transitions and improves the electronic flow of prescription information across providers.
Use Cases
- Hospital pharmacies and clinical systems using real-time drug alerts to prevent adverse drug events during prescribing and order entry.
- Health insurance payers and PBMs integrating FDB for accurate drug claims processing and evidence-based formulary management.
- EHR vendors embedding FDB drug knowledge to enrich clinical decision support and ePrescribing workflows.
- Long-term care and home health facilities leveraging medication reconciliation tools to ensure safe care transitions.
- Retail pharmacies using drug utilization review and adherence tools to improve patient medication outcomes.
Pros
- Industry-Leading Drug Knowledge Base: FDB is widely recognized as the world's most trusted source of drug data, used by thousands of healthcare organizations globally.
- Broad Healthcare Coverage: Supports a wide range of care settings including hospitals, retail pharmacies, payers, PBMs, home health, and veterinary providers.
- Deep Health IT Integration: Designed to integrate with existing EHR, CPOE, eMAR, and claims processing systems, minimizing workflow disruption.
- Global Reach: Available in multiple regions including the USA, Canada, UK, Middle East, and internationally, with region-specific configurations.
Cons
- Enterprise-Only Pricing: FDB is a B2B enterprise solution with no self-serve or consumer-facing pricing, making it inaccessible for small organizations or individuals.
- Integration Complexity: Implementation requires technical resources and coordination with health IT teams to integrate FDB data into existing clinical systems.
- Not a Consumer Product: End users such as patients cannot directly access FDB; it operates as a backend data layer embedded in other healthcare applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is First Databank (FDB)?
First Databank is the world's leading drug knowledge base and medication decision support platform. It provides clinically curated drug data that powers safety alerts, clinical workflows, and claims processing across the healthcare ecosystem.
Who uses FDB?
FDB is used by hospitals, retail pharmacies, payers, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), EHR vendors, long-term care facilities, home health agencies, and veterinary providers, among others.
What types of applications does FDB support?
FDB supports a wide range of health IT applications including EHRs, CPOE systems, ePrescribing platforms, eMAR systems, drug claims processing, formulary management, medication reconciliation, and consumer health applications.
How does FDB improve medication safety?
FDB delivers real-time, clinically actionable drug alerts for interactions, contraindications, and dosing issues at the point of care, and supports drug utilization review to catch issues both before and after prescribing.
Is FDB available outside the United States?
Yes, FDB operates globally with region-specific solutions available for Canada (English and French), the United Kingdom, the Middle East, and other international markets.
