Spotlight on athenaClinicals E-Prescribing Tool
Most states (with the exception of WV, AK, DC, and SC) have now passed legislation encouraging physicians to adopt electronic prescribing. This is because e-prescribing can improve safety (when potential errors due to misread prescriptions or medications with similar sounding names are reduced) as well as efficiency and convenience for both physicians and consumers.
athenahealth has partnered with SureScripts, the biggest e-prescribing network in the U.S., to offer clients an e-prescribing solution as part of athenaClinicals. athenaClinicals connects practices to the SureScripts Electronic Prescribing Network, which allows physicians to submit and review prescription data simply and securely in a 'true' electronic format - between the computers at the pharmacy and computers at the physician practice. This greatly reduces the need for phone calls, faxes and paper prescriptions from the prescribing process.
But here's the kicker: athenaClinicals also automatically enters all prescriptions (and subsequent renewal requests) into the patient's chart. That's right - no need to separately document each prescription or renewal request. What's more, athenahealth has a dedicated staff to monitor all the e-prescribing activity seven days a week. We'll reroute transactions to a fax if a pharmacy's computers are down or it does not accept electronic submissions. We also provide case support for any mishandled prescriptions at the pharmacy. The hallmark of athenahealth - cutting edge tools combined with client-focused, professional support to make your practice run as smoothly and as profitably as possible - sets the athenaClinicals e-prescribing services head-and-shoulders above other e-prescribing tools.
So far, 20 actively prescribing clinicians use athenaClinicals to submit 100 new prescriptions each day. In addition, athenaClinicals processes 25 renewal requests per day from pharmacies. And these numbers are growing as more and more practices implement athenaClinicals.
There's lots in the works, too. In 2007 and 2008, we will be expanding athenaClinicals e-prescribing to include the following functionality powered by RxHub data:
- Connection to mail-order pharmacies. Quickly becoming a major rival to retail pharmacies, especially for those with new Medicare drug benefits and with recurring prescriptions, athenaClinicals will expand from retail pharmacies to include electronic connection with mail-order pharmacies.
- Formulary information. Physicians will be able to review individual medications with the patient to determine which is most effective and affordable at the time the prescription is written. Physicians will also see which drugs have a prior authorization requirement, allowing them to prescribe something else to avoid the prior authorization faxes they get by the dozen.
- Patient drug history. The physician will be able to immediately see a patient's drug history, including all medications that his or her payer has paid claims on.
If you'd like more information about athenaClinicals, please e-mail athenaclinicals@athenahealth.com.