Availity and Prematics Launch First Comprehensive E-Prescribing Service For Florida Physicians

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. and VIENNA, Va., Sept. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Availity, L.L.C. and Prematics(TM) today announced the launch of CarePrescribe(SM), the first fully-managed, easy-to-use electronic prescribing service offered at no charge to physicians throughout Florida. After a three-month controlled deployment with select physician practices in the Miami and Tampa areas, the service is now available to prescribers state-wide.

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The Availity(R) CarePrescribe(SM) service is a registered solution with ePrescribe America. It is integrated across the Prematics and Availity network platforms, making it accessible through the Availity Health Information Network, a secure online health information exchange, and through a handheld system provisioned by Prematics. CarePrescribe offers physicians a no-cost, seamless solution for eliminating medication errors, streamlining practice productivity, and making patients' lives easier. Availity and Prematics are deploying CarePrescribe with support from Humana and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, which were instrumental in bringing the solution to Florida physicians.

"Practices in today's economic environment face a difficult challenge when it comes to evaluating, selecting, and implementing technologies designed to improve care quality and efficiency," said Julie Klapstein, Availity CEO. "Working with Prematics, we're able to simplify this process for Florida prescribers by delivering a comprehensive, fully-managed solution that offers everything they need to start e-prescribing without the costly investment. CarePrescribe enhances the value of Availity's suite of services, which includes electronic health records, eligibility and benefits, and claims."

CarePrescribe enables prescribers to easily order the most clinically-appropriate, cost-effective medications with real-time access to patient medication history, eligibility, and formulary information. Drug interaction alerts presented before prescriptions are written enhance patient safety and physicians can reduce patients' out of pocket costs by selecting lower cost medications covered under a patient's formulary. Prescribers can also manage new prescription orders and approve renewal requests electronically through CarePrescribe's connection to SureScripts-RxHub which has certified more than 95% of retail pharmacies nationwide for electronic prescribing. As a result, practices can significantly reduce time-consuming pharmacy correction calls and reduce patient delays at the pharmacy.

"We're thrilled to be working with Availity, a pacesetter in e-Health, to bring CarePrescribe to physicians across Florida," said Kevin Hutchinson, President and CEO of Prematics. "By equipping physicians with the right tools to improve care through automating the most commonly used medical therapy -- prescriptions -- we have a tremendous opportunity to transform health care throughout Florida."

Practices that participate in the Availity Health Information Network can access CarePrescribe through Availity's secure online web portal. Eligible prescribers in the greater Tampa and Miami areas will have the added convenience of using a portable handheld system provisioned by Prematics that includes fully-programmed CarePrescribe personal digital assistants (PDAs), a thermal printer, and high-speed connectivity. All equipment, installation, training, and support are provided at no charge to the practice. Transactions are securely conducted over Prematics' private and highly reliable end-to-end network, protecting patient privacy.

Physician Reactions

Several Florida physician practices, including Prime Care Medical Group of Tampa and Cutler Ridge Medical Center in Miami, received advanced access to CarePrescribe as part of the initial controlled deployment that began in June. After only a few months, these practices are experiencing, first-hand, the benefits of switching from paper to electronic prescribing.

"It is great to see the complete medication history of my patients," said Dr. Jose Burgos of Prime Care Medical Group. "I can now prescribe based on the context of real, actionable information, as opposed to the information the patients happen to recall. CarePrescribe is helping us to take better care of our patients and offer the highest quality of care."

"CarePrescribe has been great for improving workflow and efficiency in our office," said Dr. Damian Williams of Cutler Ridge Medical Center. "We have the information we need at the point of prescribing to make informed, educated decisions about the best prescriptions and medications to use for our patients. We are now more connected with our patients and the overall level of patient satisfaction has improved significantly."

New E-Prescribing Incentives

CarePrescribe offers a convenient way for physicians to take advantage of new financial incentives provided in the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008. For two years, starting in 2009, Medicare will offer a 2% incentive payment to eligible physicians, with smaller incentives being offered in 2011 through 2013. Physicians who do not use e-prescribing technology could see their payments cut by 1% starting in 2012 and more in 2013 and 2014.

Physicians that would like to request more information or are interested in registering for CarePrescribe can visit http://www.availity.com or contact 800.AVAILITY (282.4548).

About Availity, L.L.C. -- Patients. Not paperwork.(R)

Availity optimizes the flow of information between health care professionals, health plans, and other health care stakeholders through a secure exchange. The Availity Health Information Network encompasses administrative, financial, and clinical services, supporting both real-time and batch exchange via the web, business to business (B2B) integration, and electronic data interchange (EDI). Availity is the recipient of several national and regional awards, including Consumer Directed Health care, A.S.A.P. Alliance Innovation, eHealth care Leadership, E-Fusion, Emerging Technologies and Health care Innovations for Excellence (TETHIE), and AstraZeneca-NMHCC Partnership. For more information, please visit http://www.availity.com.

About Prematics

Prematics is a provider of managed IT services that improve the safety, quality and efficiency of health care. The company equips today's busy practices with cutting-edge technologies that automate clinical processes involving information exchange. Prematics is currently deploying the nation's first incredibly easy-to-use, fully-managed medication management system which eliminates the common barriers to physician adoption. This reliable and highly secure service operates over the company's proprietary end-to-end network that connects the "last mile" of connectivity to the physician practice. It enables the exchange of critical patient prescription information at the point-of-care for more coordinated, accurate and cost-effective care. More information about Prematics can be found at http://www.prematics.com.

     Media Contact                            Media Contact
     Availity, L.L.C.                         Prematics
     Tony Shepse                              Laura Ahlbin
     904.470.4984                             703.956.5517
     tony.shepse@availity.com                 lahlbin@prematics.com