CVS Caremark develops Prior Authorization pilot program

NEW YORK CVS Caremark’s pilot program with BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey is yet another major step forward for e-prescribing, as it enables a new level of efficiency in the physician-pharmacy interaction.

What has, in the past, been a cumbersome process of paper forms, faxes and phone calls now will be an easier and more integrated process for e-prescribers in this program with the use of CVS Caremark’s iScribe Web portal. In fact, CVS Caremark cited a study’s findings that indicate clinicians and their office staff spend an average of 4.6 hours a week fulfilling requirements of the prior authorization process.

As the article states, this pilot program, which uses functionality built by Surescripts, is among the first in the nation to target widespread use of an ePA product in order to understand the true impact on the prescribing process.

As previously reported by Drug Store News, Surescripts recently announced that more than 100,000 physicians have jumped aboard the e-prescribing. By the end of 2008, there were 74,000 doctors actively prescribing electronically, compared with 36,000 at the end of 2007. This means that physician adoption has increased more than 100% between 2008 and 2007.