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Federal Incentives Driving Increased Utilization of ePrescribing within Electronic Health Record and Stand-Alone Solutions
Allscripts CEO Glen Tullman Testifies Before National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics
CHICAGO, IL – April 30, 2009 – Allscripts announced today that, for the second consecutive year, it routed more electronic prescriptions over the Surescripts network than any other e-prescribing or Electronic Health Record solution provider. Allscripts also had more active prescribers connected to the national network in 2008 than any other company.
The Surescripts network connects prescribers in all 50 states to over 50,000 independent and chain pharmacies and the nation’s leading payers, providing secure electronic access to prescription benefit and history information and the ability to route prescriptions electronically. According to the National Progress Report on E-Prescribing, Surescripts last year routed 68 million electronic prescriptions from more than 74,000 prescribers.
Stephen Klasko, MD, MBA, Chief Executive Officer of USF Health and Dean of the University of South Florida College of Medicine commented, “Electronic prescribing is an easy first step for physicians to move towards an electronic health record, and a logical place to start because of the huge cost – in dollars and human lives – of our current system of handwritten prescriptions.” Led by Dr. Klasko, USF Health and Allscripts recently helped launch PaperFree Tampa Bay, a community-wide effort to bring e-prescribing to 10,000 physicians in the Tampa Bay area.
Available as either a stand-alone solution or a component of a full Electronic Health Record, electronic prescribing improves patient safety and quality of care by automating the prescription process. The technology is far safer than the current system of prescribing on paper. The Institute of Medicine issued two studies concluding that universal electronic prescribing would help prevent the 1.5 million injuries and 7,000 deaths that arise each year from needless medication errors.
“Electronic prescribing saves lives by providing the information critical to delivering high quality, safe and cost-effective care,” said Glen Tullman, Chief Executive Officer of Allscripts. “We see standalone e-prescribing as an ‘on-ramp’ to the full Electronic Health Record, helping thousands of physicians to more easily adopt clinical technology as a first step toward using an EHR and qualifying for new federal incentives under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.”
The Act, signed by President Obama in February, empowers the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to pay physicians between $44,000 and $64,000 over five years, beginning in Fiscal Year 2011, for deploying and demonstrating “meaningful use” of a certified
Electronic Health Record to care for patients. Physicians who do not use an Electronic Health Record after 2014 will be penalized by CMS.
e-Prescribing Gains Traction With Medicare Incentives
Allscripts has witnessed a dramatic increase in the volume of prescriptions transmitted through its electronic prescribing solutions since CMS began on January 1 to pay a 2 percent annual bonus on Medicare billings to physicians who route prescriptions electronically.
At the current rate of transmission, Allscripts is on track to deliver nearly 60 million electronic prescriptions in 2009, more than doubling its 2008 volume.
As of April 28, Allscripts had recorded a nearly 400 percent year-over-year increase in the volume of electronic prescriptions sent using Allscripts ePrescribe™, the web-based stand-alone solution available to licensed prescribers at no cost via the National ePrescribing Patient Safety Initiative™ (NEPSI™), a coalition of leading healthcare technology companies co-led by Allscripts and Dell.
Allscripts also reported a 203 percent year-over-year increase in the number of end-users on Allscripts electronic prescribing solutions company-wide, both through its stand-alone e-prescribing solutions and its Electronic Health Records.
The vast majority of the growth in volume and users occurred in the months leading up to and following January 1, 2009.
The CMS electronic prescribing bonus amounts to an average of between $3,500 and $5,000 per physician, depending on the number of Medicare patients they see. Physicians who want to take advantage of the federal incentives for 2009 have until June 30 to implement and begin using electronic prescribing. CMS will pay the bonus automatically to physicians who electronically transmit at least 50 percent of the prescriptions they write during the year. Physicians who do not use e-prescribing technology will see their payments cut by 1 percent in 2011, and a maximum of up to 2 percent for 2013 and beyond.
Benefits of electronic prescribing include eliminating illegible handwriting; adding checks and alerts for harmful drug interactions, dosage levels and patient specific factors such as prior adverse reactions; streamlining processes such as refill requests; and improving patient compliance and convenience.
Glen Tullman Testifies Before NCVHS Executive Committee on Meaningful Use of EHRs
Mr. Tullman shared his perspective on electronic prescribing during testimony Tuesday before the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics, the public advisory body to the Secretary of Health and Human Services that is charged with defining “meaningful use” of an Electronic Health Record under ARRA.
“Electronic prescribing should be a core part of the definition of ‘meaningful use’ for every electronic health record,” Mr. Tullman said in his testimony. “In fact, our view is that no electronic health record should meet the standards without robust use of electronic prescribing.”
Mr. Tullman closed by noting that “Congress has provided the incentives and some of our leading clients have demonstrated to us and to the country that world class healthcare with a focus on quality care provided cost effectively is not a dream, but a reality. Now, we have to move the rest of the healthcare system to where the early adopters are today. And we have to keep getting better. At Allscripts, we share the goal espoused by the President and Congress . . . to allow our citizens to connect to health.”
About Allscripts
Allscripts (NASDAQ: MDRX) uses innovation technology to bring health to healthcare. More than 150,000 physicians, 700 hospitals and nearly 7,000 post-acute and homecare organizations utilize Allscripts to improve the health of their patients and their bottom line. The company’s award-winning solutions include electronic health records, electronic prescribing, revenue cycle management, practice management, document management, medication services, hospital care management, emergency department information systems and homecare automation. Allscripts is the brand name of Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions, Inc. To learn more, visit www.allscripts.com.
This news release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Statements regarding future events, developments, the Company’s future performance, as well as management’s expectations, beliefs, intentions, plans, estimates or projections relating to the future are forward-looking statements within the meaning of these laws. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, some of which are outlined below. As a result, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are: the volume and timing of systems sales and installations; length of sales cycles and the installation process; the possibility that products will not achieve or sustain market acceptance; the timing, cost and success or failure of new product and service introductions, development and product upgrade releases; competitive pressures including product offerings, pricing and promotional activities; our ability to establish and maintain strategic relationships; undetected errors or similar problems in our software products; compliance with existing laws, regulations and industry initiatives and future changes in laws or regulations in the healthcare industry; possible regulation of the Company’s software by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; the possibility of product-related liabilities; our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; our ability to identify and complete acquisitions, manage our growth and integrate acquisitions; the ability to recognize the benefits of the merger with Misys Healthcare Systems, LLC (“MHS”); the integration of MHS with the Company and the possible disruption of current plans and operations as a result thereof; maintaining our intellectual property rights and litigation involving intellectual property rights; risks related to third-party suppliers; our ability to obtain, use or successfully integrate third-party licensed technology; breach of our security by third parties; and the risk factors detailed from time to time in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our 2007 Annual Report on Form 10-K available through the Web site maintained by the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Allscripts Contacts:
Dan Michelson
Chief Marketing Officer
312-506-1217
dan.michelson@allscripts.com
Todd Stein
Senior Manager/Public Relations
312-506-1216
todd.stein@allscripts.com

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