|
For years the health care industry has recognized inefficiencies and
information gaps that can jeopardize patients' safety and contribute to
significant and unnecessary costs for all involved. There have been isolated
efforts to address these gaps but these fragmented approaches have not
eliminated the inefficiencies in the prescribing process. The 1999 IOM Report
estimated that more than $1 billion a year is spent on physician and hospital
visits that result from medication errors, many of which are related to
illegibly handwritten prescriptions or resultant drug interactions.
In response, point-of-care technology providers developed applications for
physicians to enable electronic prescribing. Unfortunately these applications
have gained little traction with physicians, in part because they have been
unable to use a single electronic prescribing technology to access drug benefit
coverage information for all of their patients.
The three leading pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) each independently
recognized the value of electronic prescribing and it's most critical barrier -
the lack of a common foundation. AdvancePCS, Express Scripts, and Medco Health
Solutions were each pursuing electronic prescribing initiatives, but determined
that a joint venture would be the optimal and most efficient way to accelerate
the development of an industry-wide solution.
In response to this challenge, RxHub was founded in 2001. By creating a
single point of communication for all participants in the prescription creation
and delivery process the founders formed a neutral organization, whose primary
mission is to accelerate the adoption of electronic prescribing resulting in
better medicine and lower administrative costs.
Today, RxHub is creating a universal, standardized communication framework
that links prescribers, pharmacies, PBMs and benefits plans for the purpose of
sharing prescription benefit information and exchanging prescriptions
electronically - resulting in new efficiencies that keep health care safe and
affordable.
|
