Pharmacy Software Vendors Declare Support for E-Prescribing

New Research Showing How E-Prescribing Reduces Pharmacy Leakage Spurs Call-to-Action

Alexandria , Va. - November 13, 2007 - Thirteen of the leading pharmacy software companies in the U.S. declared their support today for electronic prescribing and detailed efforts to connect more independent pharmacists to the Pharmacy Health Information Exchange™. Best Computer Systems, CarePoint, Cerner Etreby, Computer-Rx, DAA Enterprises, Data Doc, Health Business Systems, Healthcare Computer Corporation, McKesson Pharmacy Systems, Micro Merchant Systems -- PrimeRx, OPUS-ISM, QS/1, and Rx30 Pharmacy Management System have each committed to a formal campaign designed to educate pharmacists on the economic and clinical benefits of e-prescribing and the simple steps they need to take to get started.

The announcement comes on the heels of new research that tracked the number of prescriptions received by pharmacies before and after physicians began using electronic prescribing. The research showed an 11 percent increase in new prescriptions filled after physicians began e-prescribing. Conducted by SureScripts

and Walgreens using prescriber data from IMS Health, the research links a physician prescribing electronically, or "e-prescribing", to more of that physician's prescriptions making it to the pharmacy.

The research involved 93 different pharmacy organizations at 14,638 locations, a convenience sample of 100 active electronic prescribers across five states and over one million prescriptions. No patient data was used in the analysis. The six months of prescriber data included three months before and three months after physicians began e-prescribing. To account for seasonal influences on prescribing, activation dates spanned 19 months from April 2005 through November of 2006. The study also controlled for variations in prescribing software by involving physicians using 15 different software vendor applications.

By reviewing a subset of the overall data, researchers also observed that as many, if not more, patients picked up their prescriptions when they were sent electronically to their pharmacy (i.e. as compared to handwritten, printed, faxed or telephoned prescriptions). And while further research is needed to ascertain how electronic prescribing causes more prescriptions to be received by pharmacies and picked up by patients, experts are suggesting the study's results represent the first evidence that e-prescribing could help address prescription leakage (i.e., new prescriptions that never make it to pharmacies), one part of the longstanding problems of patient adherence. Adherence defines how well a patient sticks to their drug regimen.

"The opportunity to get more prescriptions into the hands of patients is a benefit to us all," said Bruce Roberts, executive vice president and CEO of the National Community Pharmacists Association. "Electronic prescribing has long been viewed as a means of improving prescribing safety, but this research sheds new light on the additional clinical and economic benefits. I want to congratulate these pharmacy software vendors for stepping up to the plate and announcing their commitment to help spread the word about eprescribing.

Their efforts to help automate independent pharmacies will help ensure the continued and valuable role played by our member pharmacies in communities across the U.S."

"E-Prescribing represents an important opportunity clearly in line with our commitment to providing our pharmacies with systems that combine maximum productivity with the highest standards of security and drug utilization safeguards for improved patient outcomes," said Jim Whitney, president and CEO of CarePoint.

"E-Prescribing is the latest tool for pharmacies and physicians to improve patient compliance and safety while increasing the available time that may be spent with the patient by improving productivity," said Stuart Trooskin, CEO of Data Doc, Inc.
"The financial impact of an 11% gain in new prescriptions filled is also of significance to the retail pharmacy."

"E-Prescribing is finally becoming mainstream and clearly benefits pharmacies in so many ways: safety, quality, productivity and efficiency to name a few," said Brian Morris, director of product management at McKesson Pharmacy Systems.

"This new research adds to those benefits in a clear, unbiased and objective way. What's more, our systems make it really easy for pharmacies to get connected, start using it and maximize these benefits over time."

"Our SureScripts interface increases the speed at which we process prescriptions and increases their accuracy because the doctor's intentions are clear," said Richard Lau of Briarmill Pharmacy in Brick, N.J.

"The OPUS-ISM SureScripts interface is simple and easy to use."

How to Start E-Prescribing

The first step is to confirm that your pharmacy management software system has been certified to connect to the Pharmacy Health Information Exchange, operated by SureScripts. To do so, go to www.surescripts.com/pharmacist and complete a short form that will allow you to view a customized electronic prescribing activity report that includes the names of physicians who are actively e-prescribing in your area as well as the certification status of your pharmacy management software vendor and next steps for securing your connection.

Today, more than 95 percent of the nation's pharmacies have computer systems that have been certified for a connection to the Pharmacy Health Information Exchange and more than two-thirds are live on the network.oftware system has been certified to connect to the Pharmacy Health Information Exchange, operated by SureScripts. To do so, go to www.surescripts.com/pharmacist and complete a short form that will allow you to view a customized electronic prescribing activity report that includes the names of physicians who are actively e-prescribing in
your area as well as the certification status of your pharmacy management software vendor and next steps for securing your connection.

Today, more than 95 percent of the nation's pharmacies have computer systems that have been certified for a connection to the Pharmacy Health Information Exchange and more than two-thirds are live on the network.