Check the patient, not just the list
Contraindication checker for medicines and drugs against diseases, allergies and kidney function
Most interaction checkers compare drugs with drugs. A contraindication usually lives somewhere else: in the problem list, the allergy field, the last eGFR or a pregnancy test.
Describe the patient once and Prescriber.io screens the drug you are about to prescribe against all of it, with the reason and the source on every flag.
Press Run check for the interaction, contraindication, dosing and alternatives on this pair.
Not matched, so not checked: .
Nothing on this pair matched a row in the reference tables behind this check. That is not a clearance: it means these references do not name this combination.
Guideline-based alternatives
That was your demo check, run on the same references the desk uses. The desk adds renal dosing against an estimated clearance, hepatic review, unlimited checks, saved history and your sign-off on every card.
The on-page check covers five prescribing scenarios and never invents clinical output, so it will not produce a card for this pair.
The full Prescriber.io desk checks any regimen against interactions, contraindications, and renal or hepatic dosing, with cited sources for you to verify.
Interaction
Contraindication / allergy check
Dosing guidance (renal / hepatic)
Guideline-based alternatives
Decision support. You verify against official sources and sign.
Clinician in the loopDecision support for licensed clinicians. Prescriber.io does not diagnose or prescribe and is not a substitute for professional clinical judgment.
$24 per clinician a month billed annually. Decision support for licensed US clinicians.
The short answer
What should a drug contraindication checker actually check?
A drug contraindication checker should screen the drug against the patient: active conditions, documented allergies, pregnancy and lactation, kidney and liver function, and the rest of the medication list. Free checkers such as Medscape only compare drugs with drugs, so a drug-disease or renal contraindication never shows up. Prescriber.io runs all of those screens in one pass for $24 per clinician a month billed annually, and gives a cited reason on every flag so you can verify it before you sign.
One patient, three blockers
What a contraindication flag looks like
A 71 year old with type 2 diabetes, asthma and a penicillin anaphylaxis in 2019 arrives with an eGFR of 28. On a pairwise interaction checker, metformin, propranolol and amoxicillin all come back clean, because none of the three clashes with another drug on the list.
Each one is still a problem. Metformin labeling is contraindicated below an eGFR of 30. Propranolol labeling is contraindicated in bronchial asthma. Amoxicillin is a penicillin. Those are patient contraindications, and a checker only finds them if it knows the patient.
That is the gap we built for. The drug-disease interactions guide lists the condition conflicts worth knowing by heart, and the check runs them for you on the actual chart.
Check for 71 y, eGFR 28, asthma, PCN anaphylaxis
3 flagsMetformin
ContraindicatedRenal. Labeling contraindicates use at eGFR below 30 mL/min/1.73 m². Source cited.
Propranolol
ContraindicatedDisease. Nonselective beta blockade, labeling contraindicates use in bronchial asthma. Source cited.
Amoxicillin
AllergySame class as the documented anaphylaxis. Alternatives suggested for review.
Illustrative example. You verify each flag against the current labeling and sign.
Six screens, one pass
Contraindications a medication contraindication checker has to cover
If a tool skips one of these, you are still doing that screen by hand.
Drug and disease
A nonselective beta blocker in bronchial asthma, a thiazolidinedione in heart failure, an anticholinergic in narrow-angle glaucoma. The drug is fine; the patient is the problem.
Drug and allergy
A documented reaction to the drug or its class, with the cross-reactivity question answered rather than left to memory.
Kidney function
Some drugs are reduced, some are avoided below a threshold. Metformin labeling is contraindicated below an eGFR of 30.
Liver function
Hepatic impairment changes what is safe to start and at what dose, and it rarely sits in the same field as the order.
Pregnancy and lactation
Labeling contraindications in pregnancy, plus the drugs to avoid while breastfeeding, checked against the patient rather than looked up later.
Contraindicated pairs
Combinations the labeling says not to use together, flagged on the whole regimen instead of one pair at a time.
Honest comparison
Which contraindication checker screens the patient
What each tool checks, whether it sees the patient, and the price each vendor publishes.
| Tool | What it screens | Sees the patient? | Published US price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medscape Drug Interaction Checker | Drug against drug, including OTC, herbals and common foods. A "Contraindicated" severity level for pairs. | No. It sees the drug list, not the patient. | Free, ad supported |
| Epocrates | Drug against drug interaction check. Contraindications are read drug by drug in each monograph. | No patient profile in the check. | Free; epocrates+ $179.99 a year |
| UpToDate Lexidrug (Lexi-Interact) | Drug against drug, drug against allergy, duplicate therapy, with risk ratings up to X (avoid combination). | Allergies yes; conditions and labs are read in monographs. | $29.99 a month on the app |
| Micromedex Drug Interactions | Drug against drug and herbal, food, ethanol, lab, tobacco, pregnancy, lactation, ingredient duplication. | Pregnancy and lactation yes; organ function is in the dosing monographs. | No published price, institutional |
| Your EHR alerts | Whatever the licensed drug database module covers, usually drug-drug, allergy and some drug-disease rules. | Yes, from coded problem lists and allergies. | Inside the EHR contract |
| Prescriber.io | Drug against drug, condition, allergy, pregnancy, renal and hepatic function, in one pass with a cited reason on each flag. | Yes. You describe the patient once. | $24 per clinician a month billed annually, $49 monthly |
Scope from each vendor's own checker page or a university library guide; prices from the vendor or the US App Store.
Where the other tools win
Micromedex covers more interaction categories than anyone else in the table, including drug and lab, drug and tobacco, and lactation, and if your hospital already pays for it there is no reason to stop using it. Lexi-Interact's risk ratings and allergy screening are thorough, and its monographs go deeper than a one-line flag ever will. Medscape is free and fast for a quick look at two drugs. Our Lexicomp vs Micromedex comparison goes through both databases in detail.
The difference is the input. Those tools ask you for drugs, then leave you to hold the patient in your head while you read. We ask for the patient, and the conditions, allergies and kidney function become part of the check. If you came here from Medscape and want the patient-level screen it does not do, the Medscape drug interaction checker alternative page covers that switch, and our best drug interaction checker roundup scores the wider field.
How it works
From patient description to signed prescription in four steps
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1
Describe the patient once
Medication list, the drug you are considering, conditions, allergies, pregnancy status, eGFR or CrCl and liver function. Plain text is fine.
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2
One check runs every screen
Interactions, contraindications, allergy conflicts and renal or hepatic dosing are checked together instead of in four separate lookups.
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3
Read the reason, not just the flag
Each flag states why in a sentence and names its source, so you can verify it against the current labeling in seconds.
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4
Decide and sign
Where a contraindication blocks the choice, guideline-based alternatives are suggested for you to weigh. The decision and the signature stay yours.
Who pays for this
Who buys a contraindication checker instead of relying on the EHR
Hospital prescribers usually have a licensed drug database wired into order entry. The people who come looking for a separate checker tend to work where that safety net is thin: small practices, urgent care, telehealth and anyone prescribing from a phone between visits.
Allergies get their own deeper treatment in the drug allergy checker, and kidney thresholds in the renal dosing calculator. For older adults, the Beers criteria medication list covers the drugs to avoid by age.
Independent NP and PA practices
Small practices on a lightweight EHR often get drug-drug alerts and little else. A contraindication check fills the gap for $24 a clinician.
Urgent care and telehealth prescribers
New patient, partial history, a prescription inside ten minutes. The check reads what the patient tells you and flags what that history rules out.
Consultant and clinical pharmacists
Medication reviews across long lists, where condition and organ-function conflicts outnumber the classic interaction pairs.
Physicians leaving a hospital system
Micromedex and Lexidrug came with the badge. In private practice the same screening has to be bought per clinician.
Prescriber.io
$24
per clinician a month, billed annually. $49 month to month.
Lexidrug app
$29.99
a month. Drug, allergy and duplicate therapy screening plus the full drug database.
epocrates+
$179.99
a year. The interaction check itself is free in the basic app.
Every plan is billed per prescribing clinician. Full detail on the pricing page.
Straight answers
Questions clinicians ask before choosing a contraindication checker
What is the best drug contraindication checker for clinicians?
The best drug contraindication checker is one that screens the drug against the patient, not only against other drugs. That means conditions, allergies, pregnancy, kidney and liver function in the same pass, with a cited reason you can verify. Free checkers stop at drug pairs; institutional databases cover more but are priced for hospitals.
Does Medscape check contraindications?
Medscape flags contraindicated drug combinations. Its checker rates each pair as Contraindicated, Serious, Monitor Closely or Minor, and it covers OTC drugs, herbals and some foods. It does not take the patient's conditions, allergies or kidney function, so a drug-disease contraindication will not appear in its results.
Is there a free drug contraindication checker?
Medscape's checker is free and flags contraindicated drug pairs, and the free version of Epocrates lists contraindications inside each drug monograph. Neither screens a drug against a specific patient's conditions, allergies and kidney function in one step. That patient-level screening is what paid clinician tools and EHR modules charge for.
What is the difference between a drug interaction and a contraindication?
A drug interaction is a problem between two or more drugs. A contraindication is a reason a drug should not be given to this patient at all, such as a condition, an allergy, pregnancy or reduced kidney function. A contraindicated combination is the overlap: two drugs the labeling says not to use together.
Can a contraindication checker find drug-disease interactions?
Only if it knows the patient's conditions. Pairwise interaction checkers never ask for them, so drug-disease conflicts such as a nonselective beta blocker in asthma go unflagged. A checker that takes the problem list, or a plain-text description of the patient, can flag them alongside the interaction screen.
How much does a drug contraindication checker cost?
Prescriber.io is $24 per clinician a month billed annually, or $49 month to month. For comparison, the Lexidrug app is $29.99 a month and epocrates+ is $179.99 a year. Micromedex publishes no price and is sold to institutions. EHR contraindication alerts are bundled into the EHR contract.
Does a contraindication checker replace my EHR alerts?
No, and it does not need to. EHR alerts fire on coded data at order entry. A separate check is useful when the problem list is incomplete, the patient is new, or you are prescribing outside the EHR. Many clinicians run both and treat any disagreement as a reason to look closer.
Related checks
The screens that run alongside a contraindication check
Drug interaction checker
The drug against drug half of the same check.
ToolDrug allergy checker
Class allergies and cross-reactivity, flagged with the reason.
ToolRenal dosing calculator
Dose reductions and avoid-below thresholds by kidney function.
GuideDrug-disease interactions
The condition conflicts pairwise checkers never flag.
ReferenceDrugs to avoid in renal failure
Agents with renal contraindications, by class.
Buyer's guideBest clinical decision support software
How the full category compares on scope and price.
Catch the contraindication before the prescription goes out
Interactions, contraindications, allergy conflicts and renal or hepatic dosing in one check, with a cited reason on every flag. You review, verify, and sign.
Decision-support for licensed clinicians. Prescriber.io does not diagnose or prescribe autonomously and is not a substitute for professional clinical judgment. Medscape, Epocrates, UpToDate, Lexidrug, Lexi-Interact and Micromedex are trademarks of their owners. Prescriber.io is not affiliated with any of them.