Rapid Expansion of Electronic Prescribing
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Pharmacy Technology Resource, LLC
Jun 11, 2008, 12:44:48 PM6/11/08
to Pharmacy Software & Technology Resource
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/ehealth-initiative-and-the-center,429329.shtml
WASHINGTON, June 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new report indicates
more than 35 million prescription transactions were sent
electronically in 2007, a 170 percent increase over the previous
year. The report, "Electronic Prescribing: Becoming Mainstream
Practice," offers a detailed examination of the progress made,
obstacles that remain, and recommendations for helping the nation's
prescribers migrate from paper-based prescriptions to an electronic
system.
The report, developed collaboratively by the eHealth Initiative (eHI)
and The Center for Improving Medication Management (The Center) with
guidance and leadership from a diverse Steering Group of health care
stakeholders, summarizes the national experience with e-prescribing
over the past four years - from its pilot phase in several states such
as California, Massachusetts, Michigan and Rhode Island, to its
present day use in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. It outlines
additional steps that should be taken to realize optimal results in
health care improvement. The report includes corresponding guides
that offer practical information for health care payers to support
effective adoption, and for consumers to better understand e-
prescribing's benefits and use. A third guide for prescribers is
under development now, in collaboration with leading medical
societies.
"Our report and the guides released today reflect a broad consensus
among consumers, physicians, pharmacies, employers, insurers and
others that e-prescribing can offer significant benefits in terms of
patient safety, improved outcomes, and cost savings, especially if
remaining challenges are addressed. The report contains several
consensus recommendations to address those challenges effectively, and
we look forward to working with all health care stakeholders to move
those recommendations forward immediately," said Janet Marchibroda,
Chief Executive Officer, eHealth Initiative.
"E-prescribing works and its benefits for many stakeholders are
proven," said Kate Berry, executive director of The Center. "However,
education, incentives, and implementation assistance are needed. We
are hopeful that this report and the accompanying guides as well as
the efforts of many industry leaders will serve to further accelerate
the growth in e-prescribing and move it into mainstream practice."
At the end of 2007, at least 35,000 prescribers were actively e-
prescribing. By the end of 2008, estimates indicate there will be at
least 85,000 active users of e-prescribing. While e-prescribing is
growing rapidly, the adoption level at the end of 2007 represents only
about six percent of physicians. As a result: only two percent (2%) of
the prescriptions eligible for electronic routing in 2007 were
transmitted electronically.
Among the challenges listed in the report that limit widespread
adoption of e-prescribing technology are the following:
Financial burdens - Physician practices face varying financial burdens
related to e-prescribing, including covering the implementation,
training and maintenance costs.
Workflow changes and change management - Although e-prescribing
efficiencies and time savings are gained in the long run, introducing
e-prescribing, and electronic health records (EHRs), can be difficult,
time consuming, and requires adequate planning, training, and support,
particularly in the beginning.
Continued needs for greater connectivity. The infrastructure exists
for connectivity among pharmacies, physician practices, payers and
pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), but some pharmacies, payers/PBMs and
mail order pharmacies are not yet connected.
Medication history - Although e-prescribing is an improvement over
relying on paper medical records and patients' memories, the
information that is available may not always be comprehensive or
accurate and therefore tools to adequately reconcile medication
histories from multiple sources are needed.
The report also provides concrete recommendations to address these
barriers and move e-prescribing into mainstream practice.
Recommendations in the report include:
Adoption and effective use of e-prescribing. All prescribers should
adopt e-prescribing as it becomes a mainstream model of care,
including small practices, small hospitals, and long term care
facilities.Replicate and expand successful incentive programs. Align
incentives developed by federal and state governments, payers,
employers, health plans, and health systems.Address the DEA ban on e-
prescribing controlled substances. The federal government should act
soon to end the DEA ban on e-prescribing of controlled substances to
eliminate the need for physicians to manage duplicative work
processes.Create a public-private multi-stakeholder e-prescribing
advisory body. The e-prescribing advisory body must be created to
monitor, assess and make recommendations to accelerate the effective
use of e-prescribing, and should be made up of diverse stakeholders
across every sector of health care.All stakeholders should advance the
e-prescribing infrastructure. The industry should encourage all
pharmacies to accept electronic prescriptions and provide medication
history information, all payers/PBMs to deliver formulary,
eligibility, and medication history information through e-prescribing,
and all vendors to deploy and support high-quality e-prescribing
applications.Continue development of additional standards for e-
prescribing. While fully connected e-prescribing is delivering real
benefits based on the national standards in place today,
Hidden List
additional standards development and adoption processes should be
supported and accelerated and all stakeholders, including the federal
government and the private sector, must be involved.
eHI and The Center also announced a collaboration with some of
America's leading medical societies, including the American Academy of
Family Physicians (AAFP), the American College of Physicians, the
American Medical Association (AMA), and the Medical Group Management
Association (MGMA) to create a detailed practical guide for
prescribers.
eHI and The Center encourage policy makers, providers, health systems,
health plans, employers, and consumer organizations to use this report
and the corresponding guides as resources as they help drive growth in
e-prescribing to ensure that all potential benefits are achieved.
For more information about e-prescribing today, the policy landscape,
and additional challenges and recommendations, view the full report at
www.ehealthinitiative.org and www.theCIMM.org.
The Center for Health Transformation (CHT) also released a report
today on e-prescribing, in collaboration with many of CHT's members.
The CHT report is available at www.healthtransformation.net.
About The Center for Improving Medication Management
The Center for Improving Medication Management serves as an industry
resource by gathering and disseminating best and worst practices
related to technology deployment for electronic medication management
and for leveraging that technology and connectivity to test innovative
approaches to improve patient adherence with prescribed medications.
The Center was founded by the American Academy of Family Physicians
(AAFP), Humana Inc., Intel Corporation, the Medical Group Management
Association (MGMA) and SureScripts. More information about The Center
is available at www.theCIMM.org.
About eHealth Initiative and its Foundation The eHealth Initiative and
its Foundation are independent, non-profit affiliated organizations
whose missions are the same: to drive improvements in the quality,
safety, and efficiency of healthcare through information and
information technology.
eHI engages multiple stakeholders, including clinicians, consumer and
patient groups, employers, health plans, health IT suppliers,
hospitals and other providers, laboratories, pharmaceutical and
medical device manufacturers, pharmacies, public health, public sector
agencies, and its growing coalition of more than 200 state, regional
and community-based collaboratives, to reach agreement on and drive
the adoption of common principles, policies and best practices for
improving the quality, safety and effectiveness of healthcare through
information and information technology. For more information, go to
www.ehealthinitiative.org.
Priscilla Vanderveer
eHealth Initiative
202/778-1036
pvand...@apcoworldwide.com
Rob Cronin
The Center for Improving Medication Management
917/414.5289
rob.c...@surescripts.com
SOURCE eHealth Initiative
WASHINGTON, June 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new report indicates
more than 35 million prescription transactions were sent
electronically in 2007, a 170 percent increase over the previous
year. The report, "Electronic Prescribing: Becoming Mainstream
Practice," offers a detailed examination of the progress made,
obstacles that remain, and recommendations for helping the nation's
prescribers migrate from paper-based prescriptions to an electronic
system.
The report, developed collaboratively by the eHealth Initiative (eHI)
and The Center for Improving Medication Management (The Center) with
guidance and leadership from a diverse Steering Group of health care
stakeholders, summarizes the national experience with e-prescribing
over the past four years - from its pilot phase in several states such
as California, Massachusetts, Michigan and Rhode Island, to its
present day use in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. It outlines
additional steps that should be taken to realize optimal results in
health care improvement. The report includes corresponding guides
that offer practical information for health care payers to support
effective adoption, and for consumers to better understand e-
prescribing's benefits and use. A third guide for prescribers is
under development now, in collaboration with leading medical
societies.
"Our report and the guides released today reflect a broad consensus
among consumers, physicians, pharmacies, employers, insurers and
others that e-prescribing can offer significant benefits in terms of
patient safety, improved outcomes, and cost savings, especially if
remaining challenges are addressed. The report contains several
consensus recommendations to address those challenges effectively, and
we look forward to working with all health care stakeholders to move
those recommendations forward immediately," said Janet Marchibroda,
Chief Executive Officer, eHealth Initiative.
"E-prescribing works and its benefits for many stakeholders are
proven," said Kate Berry, executive director of The Center. "However,
education, incentives, and implementation assistance are needed. We
are hopeful that this report and the accompanying guides as well as
the efforts of many industry leaders will serve to further accelerate
the growth in e-prescribing and move it into mainstream practice."
At the end of 2007, at least 35,000 prescribers were actively e-
prescribing. By the end of 2008, estimates indicate there will be at
least 85,000 active users of e-prescribing. While e-prescribing is
growing rapidly, the adoption level at the end of 2007 represents only
about six percent of physicians. As a result: only two percent (2%) of
the prescriptions eligible for electronic routing in 2007 were
transmitted electronically.
Among the challenges listed in the report that limit widespread
adoption of e-prescribing technology are the following:
Financial burdens - Physician practices face varying financial burdens
related to e-prescribing, including covering the implementation,
training and maintenance costs.
Workflow changes and change management - Although e-prescribing
efficiencies and time savings are gained in the long run, introducing
e-prescribing, and electronic health records (EHRs), can be difficult,
time consuming, and requires adequate planning, training, and support,
particularly in the beginning.
Continued needs for greater connectivity. The infrastructure exists
for connectivity among pharmacies, physician practices, payers and
pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), but some pharmacies, payers/PBMs and
mail order pharmacies are not yet connected.
Medication history - Although e-prescribing is an improvement over
relying on paper medical records and patients' memories, the
information that is available may not always be comprehensive or
accurate and therefore tools to adequately reconcile medication
histories from multiple sources are needed.
The report also provides concrete recommendations to address these
barriers and move e-prescribing into mainstream practice.
Recommendations in the report include:
Adoption and effective use of e-prescribing. All prescribers should
adopt e-prescribing as it becomes a mainstream model of care,
including small practices, small hospitals, and long term care
facilities.Replicate and expand successful incentive programs. Align
incentives developed by federal and state governments, payers,
employers, health plans, and health systems.Address the DEA ban on e-
prescribing controlled substances. The federal government should act
soon to end the DEA ban on e-prescribing of controlled substances to
eliminate the need for physicians to manage duplicative work
processes.Create a public-private multi-stakeholder e-prescribing
advisory body. The e-prescribing advisory body must be created to
monitor, assess and make recommendations to accelerate the effective
use of e-prescribing, and should be made up of diverse stakeholders
across every sector of health care.All stakeholders should advance the
e-prescribing infrastructure. The industry should encourage all
pharmacies to accept electronic prescriptions and provide medication
history information, all payers/PBMs to deliver formulary,
eligibility, and medication history information through e-prescribing,
and all vendors to deploy and support high-quality e-prescribing
applications.Continue development of additional standards for e-
prescribing. While fully connected e-prescribing is delivering real
benefits based on the national standards in place today,
Hidden List
additional standards development and adoption processes should be
supported and accelerated and all stakeholders, including the federal
government and the private sector, must be involved.
eHI and The Center also announced a collaboration with some of
America's leading medical societies, including the American Academy of
Family Physicians (AAFP), the American College of Physicians, the
American Medical Association (AMA), and the Medical Group Management
Association (MGMA) to create a detailed practical guide for
prescribers.
eHI and The Center encourage policy makers, providers, health systems,
health plans, employers, and consumer organizations to use this report
and the corresponding guides as resources as they help drive growth in
e-prescribing to ensure that all potential benefits are achieved.
For more information about e-prescribing today, the policy landscape,
and additional challenges and recommendations, view the full report at
www.ehealthinitiative.org and www.theCIMM.org.
The Center for Health Transformation (CHT) also released a report
today on e-prescribing, in collaboration with many of CHT's members.
The CHT report is available at www.healthtransformation.net.
About The Center for Improving Medication Management
The Center for Improving Medication Management serves as an industry
resource by gathering and disseminating best and worst practices
related to technology deployment for electronic medication management
and for leveraging that technology and connectivity to test innovative
approaches to improve patient adherence with prescribed medications.
The Center was founded by the American Academy of Family Physicians
(AAFP), Humana Inc., Intel Corporation, the Medical Group Management
Association (MGMA) and SureScripts. More information about The Center
is available at www.theCIMM.org.
About eHealth Initiative and its Foundation The eHealth Initiative and
its Foundation are independent, non-profit affiliated organizations
whose missions are the same: to drive improvements in the quality,
safety, and efficiency of healthcare through information and
information technology.
eHI engages multiple stakeholders, including clinicians, consumer and
patient groups, employers, health plans, health IT suppliers,
hospitals and other providers, laboratories, pharmaceutical and
medical device manufacturers, pharmacies, public health, public sector
agencies, and its growing coalition of more than 200 state, regional
and community-based collaboratives, to reach agreement on and drive
the adoption of common principles, policies and best practices for
improving the quality, safety and effectiveness of healthcare through
information and information technology. For more information, go to
www.ehealthinitiative.org.
Priscilla Vanderveer
eHealth Initiative
202/778-1036
pvand...@apcoworldwide.com
Rob Cronin
The Center for Improving Medication Management
917/414.5289
rob.c...@surescripts.com
SOURCE eHealth Initiative
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