Healthcare IT News - August 2008 - (Page 5)

www.HealthcareITNews.com industry news August 2008 ■ Healthcare iT News Merged network viewed as boost to e-prescribing By eriC WiCklunD, Managing Editor ALeXANDrIA, VA – The Senate’s passage of a bill giving Medicare the ability to reward physicians who adopt e-prescribing technology certainly brought smiles to the faces of Rick Ratliff and J.P. Little. And those two have had a lot to smile about lately. Prior to the Senate’s July 9 vote, the healthcare industry was abuzz with news of the merger of Ratliff ’s SureScripts and Little’s RxHub, announced just a week earlier. SureScripts, based in Alexandria, Va., and owned by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the national Community Pharmacists Association, routes prescriptions to pharmacies. RxHub, based in St. Paul, Minn. and owned by CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions, sends prescriptions to ning the merged company, mail-order firms and also called SureScripts-RxHub provides insurance coverfor the time being. The age information. search is under way for a The merger will make new CEO to run the comit possible for healthcare pany, as well as a new name providers to route prefor the company. scriptions electronically to “It seemed like this was the pharmacy chosen by Rick Ratliff their patients, while also provid- the right time,” said Ratliff of the ing secure electronic access to pre- merger, which will link physicians, pharmacies and benefit managscription information. The two CEOs are jointly run- ers under one network. “We need to have a common infrastructure, a common platform for technology … and standards to make this work,” added Ratliff. Both organizations were founded in 2001, and Little and Ratliff say they “grew up side by side,” offering competitive but largely complementary services. Recent actions by several states to push paperless prescribing, along with ePresCriBe see page 6 Bill Continued from page 3 founder and chair of Patient Privacy Rights, said for any healthcare IT legislation to address privacy adequately, the government first needs to define privacy by law. In addition, patients must be in control of their own electronic health records. Peel contends the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule, currently used to protect health records, is not adequate. Carolyn M. Clancy, MD, director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality said the HIPAA Privacy Rule “is carefully balanced to ensure strong privacy protections without impeding the flow of information necessary to provide access to quality healthcare.” Further, she said HHS’ Office for Civil Rights has “brought about significant and systemic improvements in compliance” of some 6,100 covered entities, through investigations and voluntary compliance efforts. ■ More at HealthcareiTnews.com e Connect: BILL 0808 ● CCHiT Continued from page 3 first face-to-face volunteer meeting and the sustained interest we are seeing from product vendors points to a healthy, growing health IT certification program,” Leavitt said. “This level of enthusiasm is particularly encouraging as we begin new development in behavioral health and personal health records for the 2009 program.” Alisa Ray, executive director of the certification commission, said statistics continue to show that certification is stimulating “a diverse and competitive marketplace” for healthcare IT. “With more than half of the certified products in 2007 coming from new vendors – even though the criteria were significantly more rigorous this year – any concerns about creating barriers to innovation have been put to rest,” she said. “And smaller offices and hospitals have plenty of certified products from which to choose.” ■ More at HealthcareiTnews.com e Connect: ccHIt 0808 Show your hospital the way to enhanced integration. Hospira MedNet® A server-based patient safety solution, Hospira MedNet Integrated Clinical Care can go beyond handling aggregated infusion data and reports; it encompasses interoperability with BPOC systems to support 5-Rights Verification of IV infusions and eMAR documentation. The modular, open-source Hospira MedNet system enhances clinical decision-making by linking pharmacy and other hospital information systems to the point of care. It’s a smoother road to patient safety. Supports multiple Hospira devices, including Symbiq™, Plum A+®, Plum A+®3 and LifeCare PCA®. Learn more about Hospira MedNet at www.hospira.com e ● Connect: HoSpIra 0808 ● P07-0801B http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9667 http://www.hospira.com http://www.hospira.com http://HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9670

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Healthcare IT News - August 2008 Contents Closer to IT Bill PHIN or RHIOs? Making Leaps After the Flood Tidal Change Denmark Bound Bridging the Divide Robot That Could Mobile Computing Data Everywhere

Healthcare IT News - August 2008

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