By the end of 2011, 58 percent of office-based physicians were using e-prescribing. In terms of practice size, adoption rates are highest among smaller practices with six to 10 physicians (55 percent) and two to five physicians (53 percent). The most significant growth in physician adoption of e-prescribing occurred among solo practitioners – from 31 percent in 2010 to 46 percent in 2011. Among specialty groups, e-prescribing adoption rates are highest among internists (81%), endocrinologists (78%), cardiologists (76%) and family practitioners (75%).

Other highlights from the report include:

• The number of electronic prescriptions routed in 2011 grew to 570 million, up from 326 million
  e-prescriptions in 2010. By the end of 2011, an estimated 36 percent of prescriptions dispensed were routed electronically, up from 22 percent at the end of 2010.

• A recently completed analysis shows that of the physicians who adopted and began using e-prescribing in 2008, up to 60 percent have successfully met the Stage 1 meaningful use e-prescribing measure and 38 percent of these early users would meet the proposed Stage 2 meaningful use e-prescribing measure if it were now in effect. The results also found that e-prescriptions per active e-prescriber increased over time. In first quarter 2008, the average was 49 per month. By fourth quarter 2011, the study group averaged 213 per month.

• In 2011, Surescripts partnered with pharmacy benefit managers and retail pharmacies to compare the effectiveness of e-prescriptions and paper prescriptions on first-fill medication adherence. The data showed a consistent 10 percent increase in patient first-fill medication adherence (i.e., new prescriptions that were picked up by the patient) among physicians who adopted e-prescribing technology. The analysis suggests that the increase in first-fill medication adherence combined with other e-prescribing benefits could over the next 10 years lead to between $140 billion and $240 billion in health care cost savings and improved health outcomes.

“Beyond the significant gains in adoption, our research indicates that the longer physicians e-prescribe – the more they e-prescribe,” said Harry Totonis, president and CEO of Surescripts. “The findings are an early indicator that the meaningful use objectives for e-prescribing appear to be set at a level that was attainable for the majority of providers. This should serve as an encouraging sign for regulators as they look to raise the bar on meaningful use measures in ways that continue to lower costs and improve the quality of the nation’s healthcare system.”

In addition to tracking numerous measures of health IT adoption and use, the report discusses the future of e-prescribing, the value of prescription benefit information and how industry collaboration is driving continuous improvements in electronic prescription quality. For a downloadable copy of “The National Progress Report on E-Prescribing and Interoperable Healthcare, Year 2011,” go to www.surescripts.com/report.

The new certification program – “PDR Certified” – will have standards set by the iHealth Alliance, a not-for-profit board made up of executives from U.S. medical societies, professional liability carriers, patient safety groups and liaison members from the federal government. PDR Network will administer the program and has provided the Alliance the use of its well-recognized brand for the new EHR drug safety certification.

“The use of EHRs and electronic prescribing has grown rapidly in recent years, driven by large federal and industry incentives,” explained Nancy Dickey, M.D., the Chair of the iHealth Alliance and former American Medical Association (AMA) President. “It is vitally important that these systems include standards for drug safety functionality, and that these standards are easy for busy physicians to identify and understand – fortunately these goals are shared widely and are in sync with those called for by the FDA.”

The certification criteria are modeled after the FDA’s recently discussed goals for drug safety services in EHRs. Earlier this year Janet Woodcock, M.D., Director of the FDA – Center for Drug Evaluation Research, noted that EHRs have the potential to advance drug safety and efficacy, outlining four key areas of particular importance:

• Ensuring that full and up-to-date FDA-approved labeling is available in all EHRs,
• Delivering time-sensitive alerts, warnings and REMS programs at the point of ePrescribing,
• Integrating adverse drug event reporting into EHRs and other health IT systems, and;
• Providing better quality drug information and adherence tools for patients from their doctor’s and via EHR patient portal.

“Access to full FDA labeling combined with timely delivery of drug alerts is critical to drug safety in any environment but particularly in EHRs which play such a large and growing role in care delivery today,” said David Troxel, M.D., Medical Director of The Doctors Company, which insures over 71,000 U.S. physicians. “PDR Certification will provide an easy to recognize way for our physician members, and all U.S. providers, to know if the system they are using or evaluating lives up to these drug safety standards.”

“We appreciate the demands placed on healthcare professionals and want to provide the tools necessary to provide optimal patient care,” said Michael Stearns, MD, CPC, CFPC™, President and Chief Executive Officer of e-MDs, Inc. “We strongly support the PDR Certified program and the tenants of this program established by the FDA. They are consistent with our longstanding and deep commitment to patient safety.”

“We are very excited to be working with the iHealth Alliance and over a dozen of our EHR partners in bringing this important drug safety initiative to life,” stated Edward Fotsch, MD, CEO of PDR Network. “Selecting, understanding and learning to use an EHR are all important, but can be complicated. The PDR Certified shield makes identifying an EHR with recognized essential drug safety services quick and simple.”

“Partnering with PDR Network will allow us to quickly and easily implement new tools to enhance our EHR offering to deliver a better end user experience,” noted Jon Bertman, MD, FAAFP – Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AmazingCharts.com, Inc. “We are proud to become PDR Certified as the designation recognizes our compliance with the FDA’s goal in providing the best tools available to healthcare professionals while protecting the privacy of our clinicians and their patients.”

“We are proud to be partnered with over two-thirds of all the health IT vendors who received the Surescripts White Coat of Quality award this year,” says G. Cameron Deemer, president of DrFirst. “As the industry continues to demand increases to certification requirements and regulations, our mutual commitment to quality and innovation is instrumental to both our partners’ and DrFirst’s continued success. Being recipients of the award should bring a high level of confidence that our partners as well as DrFirst continually strive to deliver the best possible EHR and e-prescribing solutions to our customers.”

In order to qualify for the Surescripts White Coat of Quality award, the EHR company leadership must submit a signed statement affirming the organization’s commitment to quality and must measure and report monthly to Surescripts quality metrics as specified in the published industry guidelines. In addition the organization must implement changes to its software addressing issues identified in quality reporting and take steps to eliminate any issues as well as provide training to raise prescriber awareness. Vendors interested in partnering with DrFirst for e-prescribing, meaningful use, and electronic prescribing of controlled substance can contact DrFirst at partnersprograms(at)drfirst(dot)com.

DrFirst Partners who were Surescripts’ 2011 White Coat of Quality Recipients

Advent InfoSystems*
AYM Technologies*
AZZLY*
Bogardus Medical Systems, Inc*
ChiroTouch*
Clinic Service*
Connexin Software*
Custom Computing Corp*
CybaX*
Darena Solutions*
DocumENT*
East Ridges Medical Software*
eHealthCare Systems*
EMRlogic*
EnSoftek*
Exemplo Medical*
First Insight*
Future Health*
gMed*
HCA*
Healthland*
ICANotes*
Integrated Document Solutions (IDS)*
Integrity Digital Solutions*
JAG Products*
Keiser Computers*
LeonardoMD*
MDFlow*
MDTS, Inc.*
MEDfx*
Medical Messenger*
Mitchell & McCormick*
OD Link*
PsyTech Solutions*
Physician’s Computer Company (PCC)*
RemedyEHR*
Rivers Computer Support*
Silk Information Systems*
STAT! Systems*
TenEleven Group*
The Echo Group*
Tranquilmoney*
VisionWorks*
WoundTracker*

This integration allows XpressCharts EHR users to submit regulatory-compliant e-prescriptions to pharmacies through a real-time, fail-safe, clinical transaction network.

“Xpress Technologies has demonstrated its commitment to best practices by bringing the benefits of electronic prescribing to healthcare professionals, including the ability to electronically prescribe controlled substances utilizing DrFirst’s EPCS Gold™ platform,” said G. Cameron Deemer, president, DrFirst, Inc. “We value their forward-thinking commitment to providing high quality information tools to improve the prescription-writing process for their providers and patients.”

“DrFirst’s industry-leading technology and commitment to complying with state, federal, and local government prescribing regulations will be a huge benefit to Xpress Technologies clients,” said Ralph Badanowski, MD, FACEP, president and CEO of Xpress Technologies. “The integration of the DrFirst module into XpressCharts will allow doctors to be one step ahead of electronic prescribing mandates, provide a higher level of patient service and safety by minimizing potential adverse drug events, and will increase staff productivity due to less time spent with pharmacy questions and renewal requests.” Case studies suggest a savings of up to two hours per day for office staff with a faster, one click, multi-prescription renewal process.

“These companies have become the first EHRs in the country to offer physicians the ability to prescribe controlled substances electronically,” said Zach Fox, VP of partner programs for DrFirst. “With the addition of EPCS Gold™, EHR vendors can offer doctors a complete e-prescribing solution.”

A pioneer in secure e-prescribing and currently the only vendor providing EPCS services, DrFirst offers EPCS Gold™ as a platform accessible to any EHR or HIS vendor. With the advent of controlled substance e-prescribing, practices can create a single workflow for all prescriptions. For years, the inability to e-prescribe controlled substances, combined with DEA restrictions, was an obstacle for the broad adoption of e-prescribing. As a result, many practices that prescribe large numbers of controlled substances avoided e-prescribing altogether. With EPCS Gold™, EHR vendors can now offer a comprehensive e-prescribing system.

“EHR and HIS companies face many hurdles in getting to market with an EPCS capability,” explained G. Cameron Deemer, president of DrFirst. “We have removed those obstacles by designing EPCS Gold™ to be a high-quality, scalable, DEA-compliant, fully certified, audited, and low cost solution to the industry’s need for electronic prescribing of controlled substances.

With EPCS Gold™, any EHR or HIS vendor can use DrFirst’s platform to eliminate or greatly reduce development costs, audits, certification, system operations and ongoing security and compliance for constructing and operating a controlled substance e-prescribing system that meets strict DEA requirements as found in the Interim Final Rule (IFR) and subsequent guidance. DrFirst’s expertise in providing platform solutions such as EPCS Gold allows vendors to get to market quickly with a high quality offering.

DrFirst believes EHR and HIS vendors realize a significant competitive advantage with EPCS Gold™. The ability to electronically prescribe controlled substances will encourage more medical professionals to begin utilizing e-prescribing technology and to actively seek EHRs that include this functionality. For a listing of DrFirst partners who have added electronic prescribing of controlled substances to their EHRs, follow this link: http://info.drfirst.com/partnersforepcs/.

You can see the video below, but to enter the contest  you’ll need to add your comment on the YouTube video page, which is linked to above.

DrFirst Provides affordable e-prescribing and Meaningful Use solutions that can qualify your practice for federal incentives.  To learn more you can visit their website.

“Hello Health version 5.0 is our most significant release to date and reflects our focus on providing the most complete Patient Management solution for primary care,” said Nat Findlay, CEO and founder of Myca Health. “Not only is Hello Health version 5.0 2011/2012 compliant and certified as a Complete EHR by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT), but with this release Hello Health version 5.0 is Surescripts certified for prescription routing. Additional features improve task management, claims and billing and document management leveraging the breadth of the Hello Health platform as the operating system of today’s family practice, internal medicine or pediatric office.”

The Surescripts electronic prescription routing for Hello Health version 5.0 allows legible new prescriptions to be sent directly from Hello Health to the computer at a pharmacy of the patient’s choice. Renewal authorization requests can be sent directly to Hello Health. Physicians can then review and respond to pending requests with a few keystrokes. The Surescripts network connects prescribers in all 50 states to the nation’s leading payers, chain and independent pharmacies.

Hello Health defines a new generation of technology for primary care practices that builds on traditional practice management and electronic health records marketed today. Unlike standalone electronic health record systems, the EHR within Hello Health is instead part of an integrated Patient Management platform that engages patients with a bi-directional patient portal and secure communication tools to access their health information and their care team. It recognizes that patients are fundamentally health care consumers who expect greater online access and convenience and are willing to pay for it. As a no-cost solution that also provides incremental revenue, the Hello Health business model is designed to improve the economics of operating a primary care practice.

Ryan Howard

Practice Fusion has announced that its award winning e-prescribing software has been revamped; creating a faster, simpler and more streamlined user experience based on community feedback. The company’s free e-prescribing technology flagged more than 7,000 deadly drug interactions for medical professionals in 2011 alone.

Recently recognized as the top EMR for e-prescribing by Brown-Wilson’s Black Booking Ranking survey of 120,000 medical providers, Practice Fusion’s e-prescribing software is often used as a gateway technology for doctors moving away from paper medical records. Bitten by the digital bug, a majority of users that signed up for the e-prescribing system later select Practice Fusion as their complete EMR solution.

“It’s a new year and we are focused on developing new free technology that saves lives, while delivering a great experience every time a doctor signs on,” said Ryan Howard, CEO and Founder of Practice Fusion. “Even one less click means physicians can spend more time focusing on the patient and delivering quality care.”

New e-Prescribing Features:

•   The new e-prescribing workflow reduces the number of screens required to complete a prescription in half; the number of clicks required is also reduced by half
•   Historical data on patient prescriptions is pre-populated for the doctor
•   Search is improved for medications and frequently prescribed drugs
•   The drug and allergy interaction alert screen is simplified to help doctors decide if a prescription is safe
•   Pharmacy lookup is smarter to help users find one of over 70,000 US pharmacies
•   Translated prescription instructions to reduce confusion between the patient, physician and pharmacist
•   Click to watch an e-Prescribing video demo of the updated workflow
•   Physicians – click here now to sign up for free e-prescribing with Practice Fusion

e-Prescribing is a key requirement for the federal Meaningful Use incentive program, which can earn eligible medical providers $44,000 or more. As a free and fast solution, Practice Fusion users are able to attest with a smaller time investment compared to other vendors and can maximize incentives without paying for a pricey EMR system. To learn more about how Practice Fusion can help you or your practice qualify for Meaningful Use, please visit the Practice Fusion Meaningful Use Center.

One of the gems of the article is his story of refilling a prescription while he was eating at McDonalds.

Last summer, I was in Estonia at a McDonald’s. And I had a patient email me and say, “I’m out of my high blood pressure meds.” Because I now have a mobile app for my EHR, I was able to get into the patient’s medical record through my smart phone and look up the needed prescription. Then, I refilled it in the local pharmacy, over the Web. If I can access the Internet, whether it’s on my iPad, my laptop, or my smart phone, I can access a medical record.

You can’t be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But the information is, and that’s the important part. So if a patient calls my partner who’s covering that night, she can go on a computer or smart phone, and look up the patient’s medical record.

If you’re looking for nuts and bolts information about the benefits of using an EHR in a rural community this article is well worth reading.

Researchers at Harvard University, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and CVS/Caremark announced the results of an important study last week indicating that up to 24% of consumers never fill their initial prescription. “While the results of this study are consistent with previous studies in the area, what is interesting is that prescription abandonment rates appear to be increasing with the growth in electronic prescribing,” said Susan Hogue, VP of Managed Care Networks and Clinical Services at MedVantx.  ”As Physicians embrace EHR and e-prescribing platforms, they need new tools to help insure medication therapy is initiated and adhered to on an ongoing basis.  Today, physicians have limited access to detailed data about medication samples provided and actual prescriptions filled.  MedVantx has pioneered a program that enables physicians to start all their patients on free prescription medications at the point of care thereby eliminating the potential for abandonment. As a result MedVantx is in a unique position to deliver a complete view of a specific patient’s medication program from an initial medication sample to continued fulfillment of chronic medications.”

MedVantx provides physicians with first ever access to a comprehensive formulary of free generic, brand, and over-the-counter medications covering chronic and complex conditions through its MedStart™ system. The MedStart™ system automates the traditional sampling process for the physician; captures physician sampling data for inclusion in the patients’ claims history medical record and provides consumers access to highly relevant drug and disease state educational materials. Since patients don’t always get prescriptions filled, physicians can enhance adherence by providing their patients with initial therapy and better informational tools to manage their conditions right from the office.  MedVantx also reaches out to patients to provide drug information, discuss adherence related issues and offer low-cost home delivery options.

Now with the availability of the MedVantx Patient Profile™, physicians are able to view data about how patients, on an individual basis, are complying with their prescribed medication treatments.  By showing exactly when a patient fills prescriptions, physicians can detect late refills, gaps in medication fulfillment, discontinued treatments and more to accurately access and improve patient compliance.