Physicians serving the Medicaid population in Michigan and Vermont who use the ePocrates Rx drug reference guide will now be able to access each state's Medicaid preferred drug list (PDL) from their handheld devices.

After downloading this information, physicians in these states will have access to the appropriate preferred drug list as a result of a recent contract awarded to ePocrates by First Health Services, the pharmacy benefits administrator for the Michigan and Vermont Medicaid programs.

According to ePocrates, its Rx system contains comprehensive data on crucial safety topics such as indication-specific dosing, adverse reactions and drug interactions. By incorporating the preferred drug lists from Michigan and Vermont into ePocrates Rx, the company claims physicians will have instant access to each state's PDL via their handheld devices and can quickly determine which drugs in each therapeutic class have preferred status.

The Michigan and Vermont Medicaid PDLs are the first Medicaid fee-for-service preferred drug lists to be included in the ePocrates Rx system.