Federal Incentives Driving Increased Utilization of ePrescribing within
Electronic Health Record and Stand-Alone Solutions
Allscripts CEO Glen Tullman Testifies Before National Committee on Vital
and Health Statistics
CHICAGO, April 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Allscripts announced today
that, for the second consecutive year, it routed more electronic prescriptions
over the Surescripts network than any other e-prescribing or Electronic Health
Record solution provider. Allscripts also had more active prescribers
connected to the national network in 2008 than any other company.
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The Surescripts network connects prescribers in all 50 states to over
50,000 independent and chain pharmacies and the nation’s leading payers,
providing secure electronic access to prescription benefit and history
information and the ability to route prescriptions electronically. According
to the National Progress Report on E-Prescribing, Surescripts last year routed
68 million electronic prescriptions from more than 74,000 prescribers.
Stephen Klasko, MD, MBA, Chief Executive Officer of USF Health and Dean of
the University of South Florida College of Medicine commented, “Electronic
prescribing is an easy first step for physicians to move towards an electronic
health record, and a logical place to start because of the huge cost – in
dollars and human lives – of our current system of handwritten prescriptions.”
Led by Dr. Klasko, USF Health and Allscripts recently helped launch PaperFree
Tampa Bay, a community-wide effort to bring e-prescribing to 10,000 physicians
in the Tampa Bay area.
Available as either a stand-alone solution or a component of a full
Electronic Health Record, electronic prescribing improves patient safety and
quality of care by automating the prescription process. The technology is far
safer than the current system of prescribing on paper. The Institute of
Medicine issued two studies concluding that universal electronic prescribing
would help prevent the 1.5 million injuries and 7,000 deaths that arise each
year from needless medication errors.
“Electronic prescribing saves lives by providing the information critical
to delivering high quality, safe and cost-effective care,” said Glen Tullman,
Chief Executive Officer of Allscripts. “We see standalone e-prescribing as an
‘on-ramp’ to the full Electronic Health Record, helping thousands of
physicians to more easily adopt clinical technology as a first step toward
using an EHR and qualifying for new federal incentives under the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act.”
The Act, signed by President Obama in February, empowers the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to pay physicians between $44,000 and
$64,000 over five years, beginning in Fiscal Year 2011, for deploying and
demonstrating “meaningful use” of a certified Electronic Health Record to care
for patients. Physicians who do not use an Electronic Health Record after 2014
will be penalized by CMS.
e-Prescribing Gains Traction With Medicare Incentives
Allscripts has witnessed a dramatic increase in the volume of
prescriptions transmitted through its electronic prescribing solutions since
CMS began on January 1 to pay a 2 percent annual bonus on Medicare billings to
physicians who route prescriptions electronically.
At the current rate of transmission, Allscripts is on track to deliver
nearly 60 million electronic prescriptions in 2009, more than doubling its
2008 volume.
As of April 28, Allscripts had recorded a nearly 400 percent
year-over-year increase in the volume of electronic prescriptions sent using
Allscripts ePrescribe(TM), the web-based stand-alone solution available to
licensed prescribers at no cost via the National ePrescribing Patient Safety
Initiative(TM) (NEPSI(TM)), a coalition of leading healthcare technology
companies co-led by Allscripts and Dell.
Allscripts also reported a 203 percent year-over-year increase in the
number of end-users on Allscripts electronic prescribing solutions
company-wide, both through its stand-alone e-prescribing solutions and its
Electronic Health Records.
The vast majority of the growth in volume and users occurred in the months
leading up to and following January 1, 2009.
The CMS electronic prescribing bonus amounts to an average of between
$3,500 and $5,000 per physician, depending on the number of Medicare patients
they see. Physicians who want to take advantage of the federal incentives for
2009 have until June 30 to implement and begin using electronic prescribing.
CMS will pay the bonus automatically to physicians who electronically transmit
at least 50 percent of the prescriptions they write during the year.
Physicians who do not use e-prescribing technology will see their payments cut
by 1 percent in 2011, and a maximum of up to 2 percent for 2013 and beyond.
Benefits of electronic prescribing include eliminating illegible
handwriting; adding checks and alerts for harmful drug interactions, dosage
levels and patient specific factors such as prior adverse reactions;
streamlining processes such as refill requests; and improving patient
compliance and convenience.
Glen Tullman Testifies Before NCVHS Executive Committee on Meaningful Use
of EHRs
Mr. Tullman shared his perspective on electronic prescribing during
testimony Tuesday before the National Committee on Vital and Health
Statistics, the public advisory body to the Secretary of Health and Human
Services that is charged with defining “meaningful use” of an Electronic
Health Record under ARRA.
“Electronic prescribing should be a core part of the definition of
‘meaningful use’ for every electronic health record,” Mr. Tullman said in his
testimony. “In fact, our view is that no electronic health record should meet
the standards without robust use of electronic prescribing.”
Mr. Tullman closed by noting that “Congress has provided the incentives
and some of our leading clients have demonstrated to us and to the country
that world class healthcare with a focus on quality care provided cost
effectively is not a dream, but a reality. Now, we have to move the rest of
the healthcare system to where the early adopters are today. And we have to
keep getting better. At Allscripts, we share the goal espoused by the
President and Congress…to allow our citizens to connect to health.”
About Allscripts
Allscripts (NASDAQ: MDRX) uses innovation technology to bring health to
healthcare. More than 150,000 physicians, 700 hospitals and nearly 7,000
post-acute and homecare organizations utilize Allscripts to improve the health
of their patients and their bottom line. The company’s award-winning
solutions include electronic health records, electronic prescribing, revenue
cycle management, practice management, document management, medication
services, hospital care management, emergency department information systems
and homecare automation. Allscripts is the brand name of Allscripts-Misys
Healthcare Solutions, Inc. To learn more, visit www.allscripts.com.
This news release may contain forward-looking statements within the
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developments, the Company’s future performance, as well as management’s
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Glen Tullman
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SOURCE: Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions, Inc.
– 04/30/2009
CONTACT: Dan Michelson, Chief Marketing Officer, +1-312-506-1217,
dan.michelson@allscripts.com,
or Todd Stein, Senior Manager/Public Relations,
+1-312-506-1216, todd.stein@allscripts.com,
both of Allscripts-Misys
Healthcare Solutions, Inc.
Web Site: https://www.allscripts.com
(MDRX)