Allscripts ranked No. 1 in electronic prescription routing for second consecutive year

CHICAGO Allscripts announced Thursday for the second consecutive year that 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.

Allscripts also reported a 203% 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.

"Electronic prescribing saves lives by providing the information critical to delivering high quality, safe and cost-effective care," said Glen Tullman, CEO 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.

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.