SureScripts news from FierceHealthIT

If vendor SureScripts gets its way, e-prescribing should develop a much higher profile among consumers, doctors and pharmacies over the next few weeks. Last Tuesday, the company kicked off what Read more...

A new group of IT and pharma-related companies told Congress last week that if Drug Enforcement Administration rules regarding controlled-substance prescribing aren't changed, they could Read more...

SureScripts this week announced it would be working with the State Alliance for eHealth to research methods for improving medication management. The new program will look at ways to improve "safety, Read more...

CMS is getting serious about e-prescribing. The agency is eliminating a regulatory loophole that allowed providers and pharmacies to fax prescriptions rather than send them electronically. The change Read more...

Another health system has jumped into e-prescribing with both feet. This time it's Columbia, OH-based OhioHealth, a health system including 15 hospitals, 20 health and surgery centers, home health and DME services. Working with e-prescription vendor RxNT of Annapolis, OhioHealth has rolled out e-prescribing to its 2,300 physicians. RxNT's technology allows physicians to both transmit prescriptions and receive messages back from pharmacies, including electronic refill requests. The RxNT …

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CMS has put its stamp of approval on three e-prescribing standards for use in Medicare Part D transactions, after testing them jointly with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. CMS tested a larger group of standards with five pilot sites in eight states, with participants including Eden Prairie, MN-based Achieve Healthcare Information Technologies, Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital, Santa Monica, CA-based Rand, Alexandra, VA-based SureScripts and University Hospitals Health …

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Florida has become another front in the battle to foster e-prescribing adoption, with a group of health plans banding together to get the job done. The group, ePrescribe Florida, is led by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, UnitedHealthcare, Humana and AvMed. Other participants include CIGNA, Aetna, the Florida Academy of Family Physicians, Florida Pharmacy Association, Florida Medical Association, Florida Hospital Association and vendors RxHub and SureScripts. The group's goal is to …

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A group of southern states including Alabama, Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi are in the process of building a broad regional health information network, in an effort sparked in part by the hurricanes which so decimated parts of the Gulf region in 2005. The kickoff will be funded by $4.1 million in grants, including $3.7 million to fund digital record sharing and $400,000 to support the task force's efforts. The funds are piggybacking on a proposal submitted by Louisiana before the …

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Last week IBM announced its technology approach for managing the pending Nationwide Health Information Network, which will offer physicians, patients, hospitals, labs and pharmacies to share data from any location. IBM announced that it was developing a service oriented architecture to connect data locations, built on an interoperability standard published by the Health Information Technology Standards Panel. The IBM effort is also drawing on the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise …

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All U.S. physicians should have free online access to electronic prescribing technology before the end of the month, courtesy of a new initiative from various tech firms, health insurers and major physician groups. The $100 million National E-Prescribing Patient Safety Initiative (NEPSI) launched last week with a Washington press conference attended by what one speaker called a "who's who of technology across the United States."

Electronic health records vendor Allscripts is …

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