7 Secrets to a Successful EHR Relationship

In any relationship, there is a give and take between both partners. To succeed long-term, finding the right balance of give and take is essential, even between prescribers and their electronic health records (EHR) vendor.

In my experience, EHRs give without expectations. They give trusted data, valuable time, continuous innovation, and more. Our EHR-integrated prescription price transparency tool is yet another way EHRs can give back, without requiring anything of their users in return.

Case in point, the number of prescribers who used Surescripts Real-Time Prescription Benefit more than doubled last year. This means price transparency tools built into their workflow can be the difference between status quo and customers feeling heard and valued. As we celebrate Saint Valentine, here are some key things for EHR vendors to consider when starting a new relationship with end-users:

1. Don’t overthink it. Prescribers want accurate and timely patient data at their fingertips, and you have the power to provide it simply by embedding Real-Time Prescription Benefit into your software. It uses the same workflow that prescribers use today, which keeps them away from having to shuffle through a maze of secondary screens or third-party apps.
2. Put yourself out there. There’s no harm in trying. After all, 78% of healthcare professionals think it’s very important to have access to information on patients’ out-of-pocket costs.ⁱ Now is the time to offer your users what they want.
3. Be the best version of yourself. When you offer a superior experience for clinicians, you’re also providing an exceptional patient experience.
4. Know who you are. As an EHR vendor looking to have a successful relationship with each of your users, you can make a positive difference in today’s healthcare system.
5. Know what you want. If you want to keep up with competitors by innovating data exchange and decision support services, then prescription price transparency tools like Real-Time Prescription Benefit are the way to go.
6. Be enthusiastic. You’ll save clinicians valuable time and let them redirect it into time with their patients. Simply providing information on costs and alternative therapies at the point of prescribing eliminates the wait for paperwork and phone calls, as well as surprises at the pharmacy counter and unexpected delays to treatment. That’s something they will celebrate, their patients will celebrate – and so should you.
7. Go for it! Give your users the ability to deliver real-time, patient-specific medication price transparency. Our service is available today.

Surescripts Real-Time Prescription Benefit uses patient-specific benefit information that’s pulled directly from the patient’s benefit plan and provides up to five therapeutic alternatives and flags drugs that require a prior authorization.

Making Real-Time Prescription Benefit available will have a positive impact on medication adherence, by helping streamline (or avoid) the manual prior authorization process altogether. We know this will make prescribers happy, because 92% of physicians have said that the prior authorization process has a negative impact on patient clinical outcomes, and 78% said it causes some of their patients to abandon treatment.

Plus, the federal government is requiring that Part D plans adopt at least one Real Time Benefit Tool (RTBT) such as Surescripts Real-Time Prescription Benefit by January 2021—why wait?

Visit Surescripts Benefit Optimization page to learn more about what we bring to our relationship with you and your users through our prescription price transparency tools.