E-Prescribing Might Reduce Medication Errors

RxHub Fully Supports New Study Findings Indicating That E-Prescribing can Reduce Medication Errors and Generate Up to $29 Billion in Savings

July 12, 2007 - ST. PAUL, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--RxHub® today commended the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) for its foresight and leadership in commissioning a comprehensive study of the costs and benefits of electronic prescribing to the Nation's health care system.

The study found that widespread adoption of ePrescribing could save the federal government $29 billion and prevent nearly 2 million medication errors over the next decade if physicians were required to use the technology in caring for Medicare beneficiaries. Currently, fewer than 10 percent of physicians are estimated to be using electronic prescribing, which ultimately denies patients, providers, and the American taxpayers of the significant safety benefits and cost savings that result from ePrescribing adoption. Study details are on the PCMA website, www.pcmanet.org.

"This study further substantiates the necessity to provide physicians with immediate access to patient medication histories, preferred drug options, and pharmacy choices so that they can better counsel patients on safe and affordable choices before prescriptions are electronically transmitted to the pharmacy," stated JP Little, Chief Operating Officer for RxHub. "The study indicated that approximately 70% of the safety and savings advantages of ePrescribing result from this information being provided to the physician at the point of care."

RxHub - operating the RxHub National Patient Health Information NetworkT - has access to medication-related information for more than 160 million patients in the United States through certified connections to contracted Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) and payers. Access to this information is only granted to authorized physicians utilizing RxHub certified technology applications and is only available for patients who provide consent. The secure RxHub infrastructure has processed more than 30 million requests for patient eligibility, benefits, formulary and medication history information so far this year. Although this volume is significantly higher than the volume processed through RxHub during the same time last year, it still only represents a fraction of patient visits that could benefit from providing physicians with patient specific pharmacy information before prescriptions are written.

"The growth in ePrescribing transactions through RxHub is due to the early adopters of ePrescribing technology," noted COO Little. "RxHub is ready to facilitate and process an increased volume of ePrescribing transactions nationwide."

RxHub was founded in 2001 by the three largest Pharmacy Benefit Managers - CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and Medco Health Solutions, Inc. - to establish a national ePrescribing solution that connects authorized physicians with critical patient information at the point of care and enables prescriptions to be electronically routed to retail and mail order pharmacies in real-time. In the past year 12 additional PBMs and Payers, representing over 50 million additional lives, have contracted with RxHub to provide physicians and pharmacists with access to pharmacy information for consenting patients. With the addition of these new lives, RxHub will have the ability to provide vital patient-specific information for over 200 million Americans. This represents over 90% of the commercially covered lives in the United States, establishing the RxHub National Patient Health Information NetworkT as the largest in the country.

On a national basis, RxHub is participating in a number of ePrescribing initiatives including the two programs highlighted in the PCMA report - one in Massachusetts and one in South East Michigan (SEMI). In addition, RxHub is an advisor to ePrescribe Florida and is an active participant in ePrescribing initiatives within Illinois, New Jersey and North Carolina as well as others.

About RxHub LLC

RxHub® (www.rxhub.net) manages the RxHub National Patient Health Information NetworkT which electronically routes up-to-date patient-specific medication history and pharmacy benefit information to caregivers at every point of care. Our end-to-end solution enables physicians to prescribe the most clinically appropriate and cost effective prescription and send it electronically to the patient's pharmacy of choice. Operating as a cost recovery business model, RxHub partners with stakeholders in the prescribing industry to improve patient safety, increase workflow efficiency and reduce the overall cost of health care delivery. For more information on RxHub Certified Partners, please visit: http://www.rxhub.net/partners.html.

Contacts

RxHub, LLC
Media Contact:
Chris Van Horrick, 651-855-3078
Chris.vanhorrick@rxhub.net