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February 04, 2005
NDCHealth, InstantDx and University Hospitals Health System Announce Unprecedented Physician Group Practice E-Prescribing Initiative
NDCHealth, InstantDx and University Hospitals Health System Announce Unprecedented Physician Group Practice E-Prescribing Initiative
Thursday February 3, 6:15 pm ET
-- University Primary Care Practice's Group-wide Adoption of Innovative Healthcare Technology Supports Patient Safety, Office Workflow and Efficiency
ATLANTA, Feb. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NDCHealth Corporation (NYSE: NDC - News), InstantDx and the University Hospitals Health System (UHHS) today announced an industry leading group-wide adoption of electronic prescription services (e-prescribing) by University Primary & Specialty Care Practice (UPCP), a 300-member group practice located in Cleveland, Ohio.
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"We believe we are one of the largest physician groups in the country to implement this application of e-prescribing," said Michael Nochomovitz, MD, president and chief medical officer of UPCP and University Hospitals Management Services Organization, both subsidiaries of University Hospitals Health Systems. "Traditionally, adoption has been by individual physicians. We hold the view that electronic prescription services like those offered by NDCHealth improve the quality of patient care and advance prescription safety. E-prescribing enables the physician to instantly check for correct dosage, drug interactions, and transmit prescriptions directly to patients' pharmacies. The result is improved patient safety and convenience."
"This initiative is directly aligned with President Bush's recently announced Health Information Technology Plan, which calls for accelerated widespread adoption of information technology to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of U.S. healthcare," said Walter Hoff, chairman and chief executive officer, NDCHealth. "NDCHealth has long-held the view that better health information technology is essential to improving America's healthcare delivery system. It is estimated that today only 10 percent of America's physicians have access to e-prescribing capabilities, yet Medicare Part D will most likely result in significant increases in U.S. prescription volume."
"The Medicare Modernization Act of 2004 mandates new national standards for prescription writing be complete by 2006," added Dr. Nochomovitz. "We fully expect government and private payers, as well as malpractice carriers, to recognize those physician organizations who have invested in electronic prescribing. We expect our physicians to be among the leaders nationally in the effort."
UPCP selected NDCHealth Electronic Prescription Services used in conjunction with the OnCallData electronic prescription system from InstantDx. The solution will be fully implemented by March 1, 2005, with all UPCP providers trained and actively using the solution.
"The UPCP-NDCHealth initiative is the strongest endorsement of the value of e-prescribing to date," said Allan M. Weinstein, M.D., chief executive officer, InstantDx, a pioneer in the e-prescribing industry. "As more physicians begin to recognize the value and power of this tool, we believe they will adopt it throughout their clinical networks, and thereby benefit patient care through safer, more efficient prescription writing."
The goal of the adoption program is to integrate e-prescribing technology into other automated functions in the UPCP physicians' offices. This will give physicians web-based access to medical records, lab reports and other critical areas of healthcare delivery. A secondary goal is to launch a pilot program in spring 2005 to evaluate how quicker physician access to a patient's formulary plans through e-prescribing influences prescription decision-making and patient compliance.
Alan Hirsh, M.D., a UPCP internist at UHHS Chagrin Highlands Medical Center, has been using the e-prescribing solution for nearly a year. "Among the many benefits of the system is seamless handling of prescription refills," said Hirsh. "With a click of a button you can scroll down a list of the patients' medications, check those that need refilling and off it goes to the predetermined pharmacy. It saves me and my office staff time and money by eliminating telephone calls between my office and the pharmacy."
"E-prescribing significantly reduces calls from pharmacies needing clarification," added UPCP internist Helen L. Rizi, M.D. "This solution is intuitive, easy to use and much safer than written prescriptions. Drug interactions and allergies are flagged before prescriptions are transmitted to the pharmacy. The system also can save patients money by automatically suggesting alternative generic medications."
About NDCHealth
NDCHealth is a leading information solutions company serving all sectors of healthcare. Its network solutions have long been among the nation's leading, automating the exchange of information among pharmacies, payers, hospitals and physicians. Its systems and information management solutions help improve operational efficiencies and business decision making for providers, retail pharmacy and pharmaceutical manufacturers. Headquartered at Atlanta, Ga., the company provides information vital to the delivery of healthcare every day. NDCHealth Electronic Prescription Services is a SureScripts certified solution. For more information, visit http://www.ndchealth.com .
About University Hospitals Health System
University Hospitals Health System offers the region's largest network of primary care physicians, along with outpatient centers and hospitals. The System also includes a network of specialty care physicians, skilled nursing, elder health, rehabilitation and home care services, managed care and insurance programs UHHS's 947-bed, tertiary medical center is University Hospitals of Cleveland (UHC), the primary affiliate of Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). Together, they form the largest center for biomedical research in the State of Ohio. The System provides the major clinical base for translational researchers at the Case Research Institute, a partnership between UHC and CWRU School of Medicine, as well as a broad and well- characterized patient population for clinical trials involving the most advanced treatments. Included in UHC are Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, among the nation's best children's hospitals; Ireland Cancer Center, designated by the National Cancer Institute as a Comprehensive Cancer Center (the nation's highest designation); and MacDonald Women's Hospital, Ohio's only hospital for women. For more information, go to http://www.uhhs.com .
About InstantDx
InstantDx, L.L.C., located in Gaithersburg, Md. is a technology provider dedicated to building practical solutions for the medical community. The OnCallData System is a convenient wireless application enabling physicians and their staffs to write and send prescriptions electronically to pharmacies, securely via the Internet using desktop and tablet computers, PDAs and cellular telephones, anytime and from anywhere. The OnCallData System is certified by both RxHub and SureScript Systems. InstantDx is an affiliate of Immunomatrix, Inc., a renowned biotechnology company focused on rapid diagnostic testing.
NDCHealth is a trademark of NDCHealth Corporation. All other company and product names mentioned may be trademarks of the company.
Source: NDCHealth Corporation
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