First Databank

First Databank
Name	First Databank
Industry	Healthcare information technology
Founded	1970s
Headquarters	San Francisco, California
Products	Drug databases, clinical decision support, medication safety tools
Parent	Hearst Corporation

First Databank is a provider of clinical drug knowledge bases and medication decision support used across hospitals, pharmacies, and health information technology vendors. Its offerings are integrated into electronic health records, pharmacy systems, and clinical decision support platforms to assist clinicians with medication ordering, dispensing, and monitoring. The company works with regulatory agencies, standards organizations, and major healthcare providers to maintain drug information that supports patient safety and interoperability.

History

Founded in the 1970s during the expansion of computerized information systems, the company evolved alongside developments in Electronic health record adoption and the rise of Health Level Seven International standards. Early milestones included compilation of structured drug monographs that paralleled advances in United States Pharmacopeia publications and collaboration with hospital pharmacy networks such as Kaiser Permanente and Mayo Clinic. Corporate transitions involved acquisition activity and strategic partnerships with media and information conglomerates including Hearst Corporation, while regulatory events like amendments to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the establishment of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 influenced product development. Engagements with standards bodies such as International Organization for Standardization and initiatives by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology shaped its interoperability roadmap. Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, the organization adapted to the proliferation of vendors like Cerner Corporation, Epic Systems, athenahealth, and McKesson Corporation integrating its content into clinical workflows.

Products and Services

The firm's flagship offerings include comprehensive drug knowledge bases, clinical decision support modules, and formulary management tools used by Johns Hopkins Hospital, Cleveland Clinic, Mount Sinai Health System, and national pharmacy chains such as Walgreens Boots Alliance and CVS Health. Product lines support computerized provider order entry (CPOE) environments in systems produced by Allscripts, Siemens Healthineers, and GE Healthcare, and are consumed by health information exchanges and pharmacy management platforms like Surescripts. Services extend to medication reconciliation support used by academic centers such as Harvard Medical School affiliates and population health programs run by Veterans Health Administration clinics. Specialty offerings encompass antimicrobial stewardship content aligned with guidelines from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and dosing guidance referenced by materials from American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

Data Sources and Content

Content compilation draws from publicly accessible labeling such as Food and Drug Administration drug approvals, peer-reviewed literature published in journals like The New England Journal of Medicine, and monographs produced by authorities including British National Formulary and Micromedex publishers. The knowledge base integrates safety information from pharmacovigilance reports submitted to agencies like the European Medicines Agency and adverse event databases maintained by MedWatch. Therapeutic classes and coding map to terminologies and standards such as RxNorm, SNOMED CT, and LOINC to facilitate cross-system interoperability with payer databases from organizations like Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and clinical registries run by Society of Hospital Medicine and American College of Cardiology.

Technology and Integration

Technical delivery employs APIs and web services compatible with FHIR resources and HL7 messaging, enabling integration with platforms from Epic Systems, Cerner Corporation, and cloud providers like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. Data normalization and mapping leverage ontologies used by UCSF, academic informatics groups at Stanford University School of Medicine, and projects associated with National Institutes of Health grantees. The company provides toolkits for embedding clinical decision support within mobile apps and point-of-care systems developed for providers at Johns Hopkins University and academic networks such as Yale School of Medicine. Integration partnerships include middleware vendors and clinical workflow integrators that support alerting ecosystems used by hospitals certified under Meaningful Use programs.

Regulatory Compliance and Certification

Products adhere to regulatory frameworks from the Food and Drug Administration when used in contexts that meet medical device definitions and align with guidance from Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology on clinical decision support transparency. Certification and conformance efforts reference National Institute of Standards and Technology best practices and interoperability testing programs run by Sequoia Project and accredited testing labs recognized by ONC Health IT Certification Program. Compliance extends to data protection regimes influenced by Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 requirements and international privacy frameworks relevant to customers in regions governed by laws comparable to European Union directives and directives impacting the European Medicines Agency.

Market Position and Customers

The company occupies a prominent market position among clinical knowledge vendors alongside competitors such as Wolters Kluwer, IBM Watson Health (historical divisions), and Elsevier clinical solutions. Major healthcare systems, integrated delivery networks, national pharmacy chains, and health IT vendors constitute its customer base, including procurement relationships with organizations like Optum, HCA Healthcare, and national health services that follow models established by entities such as NHS England. Its reputation rests on long-term contracts supplying curated drug intelligence to clinical informatics teams at academic medical centers and community hospitals participating in national quality programs administered by The Joint Commission and specialty societies including American Medical Association.

Category:Healthcare companies in the United States