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This is a great way to decrease medical errors and save alot of money that would be wasted on fixing those errors. Hopefully the hospitial will soon implement more electronic record keeping.
RxHub and SureScripts plan to speed the transition from paper-based to paperless prescribing across the U.S. by linking retail pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers.
St. Paul, Minn.-based RxHub and Alexandria-based SureScripts will create a single company to run a network for online prescriptions and the exchange of health information including a patient’s medication history.
SureScripts was formed in 2001 by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the National Community Pharmacists Association. RxHub was created in 2001 by CVS Caremark Corp., Express Scripts Inc. and Medco Health Solutions Inc.
The consolidated company will be able to transmit prescriptions and renewal requests to both retail and mail-order pharmacies.
The boards of directors of both organizations approved the cashless merger WHEN?. The owners of SureScripts will own 50 percent of the venture and the owners of RxHub will own the other half.
This year, the combined organization expects to transmit 100 million prescription transactions online and respond to more than 70 million requests by physicians, confirming patient information about drug coverages and medication histories.
With appropriate patient consent, the combined organization will extend that information to clinicians caring for more than 200 million patients across the U.S.
Last year, SureScripts had 35,000 prescribers electronically connected to more than 40,000 community pharmacies that generated about 35 million e-prescription transactions.
“This merger sets aside historic economic and political differences to do what is necessary to advance paperless prescribing and the secure exchange of critical information between providers – instantly elevating the quality of care,” said John Driscoll, president of new markets for Medco Health Solutions.
Initially, the new organization will be jointly managed by the acting CEO of RxHub, J.P. Little, and the acting CEO of SureScripts, Rick Ratliff, who took the helm this year when the CEO of over five years left. The new board has started a nationwide search to select a CEO.
The new six-member board includes a single director each from CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, Medco Health Solutions, NACDS and NCPA. The sixth member of the board is designated by NACDS and NCPA. The combined company will have more than 75 employees and will maintain its existing office locations in St. Paul, Minn. and Alexandria.
The new organization is entering a rebranding initiative and will be referred to as SureScripts-RxHub in the mean time.
http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2008/06/30/daily19.html
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