Surescripts Announces That Eight Software Vendors Have Achieved Advanced Certification Status for E-Prescribing

Medicare Incentives Drive New Focus on Software That Gives Prescribers
Electronic Access to Prescription Benefit, Prescription History and Prescription Routing

ALEXANDRIA, Va., and ST. PAUL, Minn. - March 26, 2009 - Surescripts®, which operates the country's largest national electronic prescribing network, today announced that eight physician software applications have achieved advanced certification status. Platinum or Gold Solution Provider status is granted to vendors with software products that have gone beyond Surescripts baseline product certification to meet benchmarks that demonstrate a higher level of commitment
to e-prescribing.

The following vendors have achieved Surescripts Platinum Solution Provider status for their respective products:

NextGen EHR Version 5.5.27
RxNT Version 6.1.4

The following vendors have achieved Surescripts Gold Solution Provider status for their respective products:
Allscripts ePrescribe Version 12.5
Axolotl Elysium Version 9
DrFirst Rcopia Version 3.12
eClinicalWorks EMR Version 8.0
GE Centricity EMR 2005 with Kryptiq eSM Version 3.0
NewCrop Core Version 8.0

Platinum Solution Provider status is granted to those companies that not only meet the criteria for Gold Solution Provider status but also take the initiative to become early adopters of nextgeneration network technology. This includes participating in a pilot project aimed at developing new approaches to further improve electronic prescribing.

"An electronic connection between payers, prescribers and pharmacists is essential to reducing costs and improving the safety and efficiency of a prescribing process relied upon by millions of patients every day," said JP Little and Rick Ratliff, co-CEOs of Surescripts. "For physicians making an investment in the safety of their patients, the efficiency of their practice and the quality of their own clinical decision making, Platinum and Gold Solution Provider certification status helps them know which software vendors are meeting the highest standards for e-prescribing. We congratulate NextGen, RxNT, Allscripts, Axolotl, DrFirst, eClinicalWorks, GE/Kryptiq and NewCrop on achieving advanced certification for their respective products in 2008."

To utilize the Surescripts network, prescribers, pharmacies and PBMs must use software that has completed the Surescripts certification process. This process ensures that the software is able to send and receive electronic messages in accordance with industry standards and that it provides open choice for medication selection and dispensing location. Additionally, certification focuses on patient safety, efficiency of the electronic prescribing process and ease of use by end users. For more information about Surescripts certification, visit our Certifications and Accreditations page.

One of the foundations of the growth of e-prescribing is the work that Surescripts has done over the past five years certifying the software applications of every major e-prescribing and electronic medical record (EMR) vendor in the U.S. As of Feb. 1, 2009, more than 135 applications were certified by Surescripts to enable physicians' software and services to access prescription information and route prescriptions electronically.

The criteria for Surescripts advanced certification go beyond product compliance with technical standards. Advanced certification is guided by benchmarks for vendor performance across a number of categories, including optimized application workflow, enhanced message handling, and the quality of operations and production monitoring techniques. Advanced certified vendors are required to meet all the requirements in all of these categories.

Requirements for 2009 advanced certification will be communicated to software vendors in the second quarter.

In 2008, the U.S. saw twofold growth in e-prescribing adoption and use. This continues the trend of the last three years. A review of 2006-2008 operational data from SureScripts and RxHub indicates that electronic requests for prescription information, responses to those requests and the number of prescriptions routed electronically totaled nearly half a billion. (Note: More detailed
data will be made available in the soon-to-be-released 2008 National Progress Report on EPrescribing. Visit www.surescripts.com/report for more information.)

Tracking a Vendor's Certification Status
Physicians and health IT industry watchers can track the e-prescribing certification status of physician software applications at www.surescripts.com/certified.

About SureScripts
Founded by the pharmacy industry in 2001, SureScripts ® operates the Pharmacy Health Information Exchange ™, which facilitates the secure electronic transmission of prescription information between physicians and pharmacists and provides access to lifesaving information about patients during emergencies or routine care. Today, more than 95 percent of all pharmacies and all major physician technology vendors in the United States are certified on the Pharmacy Health Information Exchange. More information about SureScripts is available at www.surescripts.com.