Sep 15 2009
SXC Health Solutions Corp. ("SXC" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: SXCI, TSX: SXC), today announced it has entered into a strategic relationship with Allscripts (NASDAQ: MDRX) to enhance the electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) options available to SXC's healthcare benefits management customers.
The SXC-Allscripts arrangement enables SXC clients - health plans, employers, government agencies, pharmacy benefit managers and pharmacies - to seamlessly and securely exchange authorized eligibility, formulary, medication history, and pharmacy information with physicians or other prescribers who use Allscripts stand-alone e-prescribing or Electronic Health Record (EHR) solutions. The prescribers can then use the transmitted, patient-specific information during the prescribing process to make safer, more cost-effective decisions with their patients.
"As the industry's Technology-enabled PBM(TM), SXC is committed to driving e-prescribing across the many markets we serve," said Mark Thierer, President and Chief Executive Officer, SXC Health Solutions. "Delivering actionable information to the provider at the point-of-care is central to our operating principles. We are pleased to partner with Allscripts, the market leader with the most widely used e-prescribing and EHR solutions in the U.S. today. Beyond e-prescribing, we look forward to additional joint efforts with Allscripts to share patient-specific, clinically rich insights with prescribers where and when they need them."
Electronic prescribing offers significant advantages to payers, patients and physicians either as a stand-alone solution or as part of an EHR. Through industry-standard transactions, physicians using mobile devices or computers in their office can access patient-specific information related to medication coverage, available alternative therapies, medication history, potentially harmful drug interactions, and prescription costs. Allscripts and SXC believe exchanging prescription information in this way reduces adverse drug events and medication errors that cause thousands of needless deaths in the United States each year.
"This agreement enables us to partner with pharmacy benefit managers to increase the amount of relevant clinical information available for physicians using our e-prescribing and EHR solutions, which means they have more information to help them deliver better, safer patient care," said Glen Tullman, Chief Executive Officer of Allscripts. "SXC has carved out a unique position in the industry, and we see great opportunity in working closely together as the EHR marketplace and managed pharmacy landscape converge over the coming years."
To improve patient safety and care efficiency, the Institute of Medicine recommended in 2006 that all prescriptions be transmitted electronically by 2010. Since then, the number of U.S. prescribers routing electronic prescriptions has risen from 19,000 to 103,000 by the end of 2008, according to SureScripts. Growth in e-prescribing has accelerated further this year due in large part to the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA), which provides financial incentives to physicians who adopt the technology.
According to a March 2009 study by the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, the percentage of U.S. prescribers using electronic prescribing will increase from fewer than 15 percent today to more than 75 percent by 2014. The report predicts that about 90 percent of physicians will e-prescribe by 2018. The report also estimates that e-prescribing could save the U.S. government nearly $22 billion over the next 10 years, preventing 3.5 million medication errors and 585,000 hospitalizations by 2018.
Remote interpreting raises concerns about communication quality in healthcare