Massachusetts eRx Collaborative

The Massachusetts eRx Collaborative was established in October 2003 as an outgrowth of existing e-prescribing pilot programs at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and Tufts Health Plan, joined later by the Neighborhood Health Plan. Partnering with ZixCorp as the technology provider and later adding DrFirst, the Collaborative has sponsored the deployment of e-prescribing tools to thousands of healthcare providers, offering a turn-key approach to implementing hardware, set-up, training and ongoing support at no cost to the prescribers.

Through use of the e-prescribing tools, physicians are able to access patient-specific prescription drug and medical histories, be alerted of drug-to-drug and drug-allergy interactions; electronically transmit prescriptions directly to a pharmacy, minimizing possible errors from illegible handwriting; view formulary compliance information; and access drug reference guides to review generic alternatives for brand-name prescriptions.

In 2005, the Massachusetts eRx Forum was established by insurers, technology vendors, pharmacies and other organizations to raise awareness of e-prescribing and increase its adoption statewide. The Forum has partnered with the Massachusetts Medical Society to develop a continuing medical education course called “Electronic Prescribing Education: How to Improve Medication Safety and Reduce Drug Costs Through e-Prescribing,” in order to inform practicing physicians of the value of health information technology.

Results:

• Nearly five million prescriptions transmitted electronically in 2007, and more than 13.5 million since the Collaborative’s inception;
• In 2007, approximately 104,000 electronic prescriptions were changed or cancelled because of drug-safety alerts to the physician;
• In 2006, BCBSMA e-prescribers saved five percent on their drug costs compared to prescribers that did not use the technology. Of that savings, BCBSMA members saved $800,000 in co-payments for their prescriptions resulting from improved formulary compliance and increased use of generic alternatives;
• More than 81 percent of prescribers reported that they would recommend e-prescribing to a colleague, and 71 percent said the technology saves time as a result of its use.

***Submitted by Adrienne Cyrulik, Program Manager, eHealth Innovation, Blue Cross Blue Shield Massachusetts, Adrienne.Cyrulik@bcbsma.com  & Geoff Bibby, Vice President, Corporate Marketing, Zix Corporation, GBibby@ZixCorp.com

Published: January 26, 2009