E-Prescribing Adoption A “Must Do” For Community Pharmacies, NCPA Says
Executive Summary
The National Community Pharmacists Association is urging independent pharmacies to implement electronic prescribing
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The National Community Pharmacists Association is urging independent pharmacies to implement electronic prescribing. Independent pharmacies are lagging behind their chain peers in adopting e-prescribing by a wide margin, NCPA Exec VP Bruce Roberts said Oct. 17 at the association's annual convention in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. "Seventy percent of the chain pharmacies are live on the SureScripts electronic prescribing network today," while "less than 1% of independents are connected to SureScripts electronic prescribing network," Roberts said. NCPA and the National Association of Chain Drug Stores formed the SureScripts network in 2001. Pharmacy benefit managers Medco, AdvancePCS (now merged with Caremark) and Express Scripts launched a separate e-prescribing network, RxHub, the same year (1 , p. 33). Adopting e-prescribing is a "must do," Roberts said. "We created this for you. Your colleagues in the chains are already doing it." Community pharmacists need to recognize that e-prescribing is no longer a futuristic technology, Roberts said. "One in three pharmacies nationwide are already live on the SureScripts network, and transactions are being processed in more than 45 states," he said. "More than 50 physician technology vendors, representing more than 150,000 prescribers, have signed agreements with SureScripts converting their current and future users to electronic transactions." More than 85% of independent pharmacies are already capable of connecting to the SureScripts network, but "we need pharmacy software vendors to step up to the plate and ease the process for pharmacies to adopt e-prescribing today," Roberts added. Under the Medicare Modernization Act, HHS will set final standards for electronic prescribing by 2008. Applications for participation in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' e-prescribing pilot program are due Oct. 25 (2 (Also see "E-Prescribing Pilot Participants To Report Generic, On-Formulary Drug Use" - Pink Sheet, 10 Oct, 2005.), p. 23). |