PCMA Endorses Institute of Medicine’s Call for National Electronic Prescribing by 2010
(Washington, DC)—Recommendations set forth today by the Institute of Medicine (IoM) of the National Academy of Sciences to identify and prevent medication errors Ă¢?? including a call for all prescriptions to be written electronically by 2010 Ă¢?? are on target and should serve to jumpstart a national debate about how best to promote the safety and efficacy of prescription drugs throughout the entire health care system, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) said today.
“The IoM’s recommendations are common-sense reforms that can improve all Americans’ quality of life and save the health system tens of billions of dollars,” said PCMA President Mark Merritt. “PBMs have been at the forefront of efforts to improve communication among patients, physicians, pharmacists, and payors. PCMA member companies look forward to helping to advance the IoM’s recommendations and putting them into practice.”
PCMA and its member companies have long advocated a national, uniform e-prescribing standard as a key tool to improving quality, promoting safety, and reducing costs. In the commercial marketplace, PBMs have pioneered the most sophisticated e-prescribing infrastructure and other health-information management tools to help employers, health insurers, and others to improve outcomes, promote safety, and reduce costs. Numerous data have shown that e-prescribing technology can save tens of billions of dollars in unnecessary drug spend. E-prescribing can also help increase adherence to prescription-drug therapies and more easily provide consumers information about safer and more cost-effective options, such as generic drugs and the mail-service pharmacy option.
Mr. Merritt added, “A national, uniform e-prescribing standard that physicians and pharmacists can easily use will go a long way toward reducing medication errors and providing huge savings to the system. As a nation struggling with variations in care and increased costs, we can’t afford not to embrace e-prescribing technology.”
###
PCMA is the national association representing America’s pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which administer prescription drug plans for more than 200 million Americans with health coverage provided through small businesses, Fortune 500 employers, health insurers, labor unions, and Medicare.
Contact Information:
Phil Blando 202-207-3614
Charles Coté 202-207-3605