Microsoft links with Rx.com, PDX to extend HealthVault data network
FORT WORTH, Texas Pharmacy system provider PDX and its sister company, Rx.com, joined with Microsoft to unveil an online portal for patients who want access to their pharmacy and health records via Microsoft’s password-protected, Web-based data warehouse, HealthVault.
Under the new pact, pharmacies using the Rx.com electronic pharmacy record can export their patients’ prescription history into HealthVault, where patients can access their aggregated prescription data. PDX will serve as a link between the pharmacies it serves and Microsoft’s HealthVault platform.
Meijer, Inc., is the first PDX client to offer that link to its patients, according to PDX.
The move underscores Microsoft’s determination to be a key player in the fast-emerging health information technology revolution. Last week, the company announced a new, separate partnership between HealthVault and Walgreens.
“PDX and Rx.com connecting with HealthVault helps put consumers in control of managing their own care the the care of extended family members,” said David Cerino, general manager of the Consumer Health Solutions Group at Microsoft. “Customers from thousands of pharmacies…will be able to integrate their prescription history into HealthVault, which will provide them with a more complete picture of their health and allow them to make better healthcare decisions.”
Currently, patients can access their prescription history from each individual pharmacy’s Web site. “With the HealthVault integration, patients of pharmacies that aggregate their data in the Rx.com EPR can go to one Web site, Rx.com, to get copies of all their pharmacy data downloaded into their HealthVault user account,” the company reported Tuesday.
Ken Hill Sr., founder and CEO of PDX and Rx.com, said the new agreement with Microsoft “will give our 65 chain pharmacy customers, as well as our independent pharmacies, the ability to integrate client prescription history from a single source into HealthVault at the patient’s request.”