CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS) today announced an agreement with Allscripts (Nasdaq: MDRX) that will position both companies to help accelerate adoption of e-prescribing technology.
This agreement between the nation’s largest pharmacy health care provider and the largest provider of e-prescribing and Electronic Health Record (EHR) solutions will enhance the ability of CVS Caremark to support its payer and employer clients in driving e-prescribing adoption throughout their networks.
As part of this agreement, CVS Caremark will transition the thousands of providers now using the company’s proprietary iScribe e-prescribing tool to Allscripts e-prescribing and retire iScribe.
Considered the “on-ramp to the electronic healthcare highway,” e-prescribing often serves as a first step toward adoption of a full EHR, which provides e-prescribing capabilities while also automating the everyday clinical tasks of caregivers and connecting them to key healthcare stakeholders.
Under the agreement, iScribe users will also have the opportunity to transition to a full Allscripts EHR, enabling them to qualify under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) for between $44,000 and $64,000 in federal incentive payments beginning in 2011.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services already provides financial incentives for e-prescribing under the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA).
As adoption of e-prescribing technology and EHRs increases in response to these significant federal incentives, CVS Caremark will focus its efforts at the point-of-care.
That work will include initiatives with market leaders such as Allscripts to deliver enhanced information about plan design, drug formulary, generic options, potential drug interactions, and eventually care plans to providers at the point-of-care to help improve quality, ensure safety and provide the most cost-effective treatment protocols.
CVS Caremark’s goals are to promote savings for the patient, payers and employers; enhance the customer experience at the pharmacy; and improve patient medication compliance which can help improve health outcomes.
Given CVS Caremark’s ability to enhance pharmacy health care at multiple touch-points, the company is well-positioned to take the lead at developing and implementing new programs and initiatives that help deliver the right information to guide physician and caregiver medication decision making at the point-of-care.
“This represents a natural progression of our work in the expanding e-prescribing industry,” said Troyen Brennan, M.D., M.P.H., Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of CVS Caremark.
“We helped define this market through our participation as one of the founders of the Surescripts network which connects prescribers to critical prescribing information and the pharmacy, and as an early provider of e-prescribing tools. Working directly with Allscripts in this next phase will strengthen our ability to deliver scalable e-prescribing solutions, which include valuable information, to meet our clients’ business and clinical goals.”
The agreement with Allscripts, along with a broader ePrescribing and eHealth strategy involving the two companies, increases the ability of CVS Caremark to reach prescribers beyond that provided by investment in a single clinical tool.
Allscripts offers physicians in independent practice and in larger groups or institutions a wide variety of solutions to meet their needs, ranging from a standalone mobile smartphone e-prescribing solution to robust EHR with embedded e-prescribing technology.
“Electronic prescribing is a proven technology that can improve health outcomes by reducing medication errors, leading to lower health care costs,” said Glen Tullman, Chief Executive Officer of Allscripts.
“With this partnership, CVS Caremark has demonstrated its continuing leadership in the promotion of patient safety by preparing former iScribe physicians to take advantage of the new federal incentives for adoption of electronic health records, which let them not only e-prescribe but automate and connect their clinical operations for higher quality and greater efficiency.
We also look forward to working with CVS Caremark to provide valuable new information that will help physicians and caregivers better manage patient care.”
About CVS Caremark
CVS Caremark is the largest provider of prescriptions in the nation. The Company fills or manages more than 1 billion prescriptions annually.
Through its unmatched breadth of service offerings, CVS Caremark is transforming the delivery of health care services in the U.S.
The Company is uniquely positioned to effectively manage costs and improve health care outcomes through its more than 7,000 CVS/pharmacy and Longs Drugs stores; its Caremark Pharmacy Services division (pharmacy benefit management, mail order and specialty pharmacy); its retail-based health clinic subsidiary, MinuteClinic; and its online pharmacy, CVS.com.
General information about CVS Caremark is available through the Investor Relations section of the Company’s Web site, at cvscaremark.com/investors, as well as through the press room section of the Company’s Web site, at cvscaremark.com/newsroom.
About Allscripts
Allscripts uses innovation technology to bring health to healthcare. More than 160,000 physicians, 800 hospitals and nearly 8,000 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, care management, emergency department information systems and homecare automation. Allscripts is the trade name of Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions, Inc.
To learn more, visit allscripts.com.
For more Allscripts news, follow us on Twitter at: twitter.com/AllscriptsMisys
CVS Caremark Contacts:
Nancy Christal Christine Cramer
Senior Vice President Director
Investor Relations Corporate Communications
CVS Caremark CVS Caremark
(914) 722-4704 (401) 770-3317
Allscripts Contacts:
Seth Frank Todd Stein
Vice President Senior Manager
Investor Relations Public Relations
(312) 506-1213 (312) 506-1216
[email protected] [email protected]
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