EPN - Electronic Prescribing News: RxHub Demonstrates Leadership in Adoption of Health Information Technology

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June 20, 2005

RxHub Demonstrates Leadership in Adoption of Health Information Technology

Partnerships and Increasing Utilization of ePrescribing Services are Creating Significant Gains in Transactions

ST. PAUL, Minn., June 20 /PRNewswire/ -- RxHub(R), the leader in
connecting the prescribing industry for the exchange of patient-specific
prescribing information between physicians, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs)
and pharmacies continues to demonstrate the value of accelerating physician
adoption to health information technology (HIT) through significant increase
in eprescribing transactions and the addition of new technology partners.
Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt announced new steps to
advance health information technology with eprescribing as one of the first
areas to focus on.
RxHub is leading the way in connecting the prescribing industry.
Physician adoption is increasing as technology vendors provide innovative
solutions that meet practice needs. "Adoption is noticeably ramping up," said
David McLean, CEO of RxHub. "Our quarter over quarter growth on eprescribing
transactions exceed 40%, with just over 1.9 million transactions every month."
McLean goes on to state, "This growth will be sustainable over time as we
continue to add new technology partners to the already growing list of
partners that are currently certified and submitting transactions on a daily
basis."
RxHub's Master Patient Index (MPI) currently holds close to 150 million
records based on membership from PBMs and payers. "We are currently working
with 40-45 entities to become a part of RxHub's MPI, resulting in the
"critical mass" of patients within physicians' practice -- greatly enhancing
the adoption value proposition," said McLean. "Connecting to RxHub will allow
these organizations to meet the CMS requirements as Prescription Drug Plan
(PDP) sponsors and Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug (MA-PD) plans for the
eprescribing program as established in the new Medicare Prescription Drug,
Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA) that will go into effect January 1,
2006."
RxHub is leading the industry with its focus on patient safety by
providing formulary and medication history information at the point of
prescribing. "We have created the infrastructure to allow patients to have
their drug therapy managed in a much safer manner," McLean said. "Last
quarter RxHub received over 500,000 requests for medication histories." Lack
of access to comprehensive information on patients' outpatient medications
contributes to adverse drug events that can greatly compromise patient care.
"RxHub is solving this problem by providing medication histories to physicians
that will assist them in addressing the patient drug safety challenge," stated
McLean.
January 1, 2006 marks the start date of the Medicare Prescription Drug
Program, which requires PDPs, MA-PDs, and other entities participating in the
program to comply with eprescribing standards. RxHub continues to show
leadership in promoting and developing standards that will accelerate
physician adoption. Part of the MMA ruling charged the National Committee on
Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS), to make recommendations on uniform
standards relating to the requirements of eprescribing program. RxHub has
played a major role in this effort and has submitted its proprietary standards
for Formulary and Benefit messages and Medication History to a standards
development organization (SDO) for accreditation. These standards are
projected to be named ANSI accredited standards by October 2005.
RxHub is pleased to support President Bush's April 2004 call for
electronic health records (EHRs) within 10 years. RxHub shares the
President's mission to reduce the overall cost of health care delivery and
improve patient safety and quality of care for all Americans. The current
gains in RxHub's transactions and partnerships are demonstrations that
eprescribing is providing a head start to our national 10 year EHR goal.

About RxHub LLC
RxHub electronically routes up-to-date patient-specific medication history
and pharmacy benefit information to caregivers at every point of care. Our
end-to-end solution enables physicians to prescribe the most clinically
appropriate and cost effective prescription to be sent electronically to the
patient's pharmacy of choice. RxHub's mission is to partner with all
stakeholders in the prescribing industry to improve patient safety, increase
workflow efficiency and reduce the overall cost of health care delivery.
RxHub was founded in 2001 by the then three largest PBMs-Advance PCS (acquired
by Caremark Rx), Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions. RxHub is
headquartered in St. Paul, MN. For more information, please visit
http://www.RxHub.net .