The White House recently released a new report, "The Recovery Act: Transforming the American Economy Through Innovation." Vice President Joe Biden used the report to highlight the progress of federal-private sector partnerships with industries such as health care, transportation, and energy.
In a section labeled "Building a Platform for Private Sector Innovation," the report detailed significant progress with health information technology and e-prescribing.
"There is no greater example of what investing in innovation can do for America than health information technology and, more specifically, e-prescribing," said Harry Totonis, president and CEO of Surescripts and a guest at the Vice President’s announcement.
"By providing extensive support for standards testing and adoption and by offering a mix of incentives — today through MIPPA and tomorrow as part of the Recovery Act — the government has played a leading role in encouraging the adoption of e-prescribing. This, along with the collaboration between Surescripts and the nation’s pharmacies, payers, physicians and technology vendors has produced significant results: In the last 18 months, e-prescribing has grown from 12 to 32 percent of all office-based prescribers in the U.S. and from 76 to 90 percent of retail pharmacies. The report goes further to recognize the greater benefit of e-prescribing and the sharing of medication information — saving lives, time and money and improving the quality of care.
"But e-prescribing and medications are just one component of an overall electronic health record. More innovation is required. We must develop a more efficient, secure and reliable means of sharing a broader set of valued health information for continued, meaningful improvements in care."
Source: Surescripts
