eHealth Initiative and The Center for Improving Medication Management Release National Roadmap and Practical Guides for Rapid Expansion of Electronic Prescribing
Multi-stakeholder Group Touts Benefits from E-Prescribing and Makes Recommendations on How to Accelerate its Adoption and Effective Use
WASHINGTON – JUNE 11, 2008 – A new report indicates more than 35 million prescription transactions were sent electronically in 2007, a 170 percent increase over the previous year. The report, “Electronic Prescribing: Becoming Mainstream Practice,” offers a detailed examination of the progress made, obstacles that remain, and recommendations for helping the nation’s prescribers migrate from paper-based prescriptions to an electronic system.
The report, developed collaboratively by the eHealth Initiative (eHI) and The Center for Improving Medication Management (The Center) with guidance and leadership from a diverse Steering Group of health care stakeholders, summarizes the national experience with e-prescribing over the past four years – from its pilot phase in several states such as California, Massachusetts, Michigan and Rhode Island, to its present day use in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. It outlines additional steps that should be taken to realize optimal results in health care improvement. The report includes corresponding guides that offer practical information for health care payers to support effective adoption, and for consumers to better understand e-prescribing’s benefits and use. A third guide for prescribers is under development now, in collaboration with leading medical societies.
Guide for Payers | Consumer Guide | One-Page Consumer Pamphlet
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eHealth Initiative's 2008 Annual Survey of Health Information Exchange is Now Open for Participation
Deadline: Monday, June 23rd - Complete the Survey
WASHINGTON, D.C. - MAY 30, 2008 - The eHealth Initiative Foundation (eHI) launched today eHI’s Fifth Annual 2008 Survey of Health Information Exchange at the National, State and Local Levels. Those involved in improving health and health care through health information exchange at the national, state and local levels are encouraged to respond to the survey, which can be found here.
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eHealth Initiative's Drug Safety Collaboration to Partner
With FDA on Sentinel Initiative
eHI’s multi-stakeholder "Connecting Communities for Drug Safety Collaboration" conducting drug safety pilots to test and evaluate use of electronic health information to support post-market monitoring efforts
WASHINGTON – MAY 22, 2008 –The non-profit Connecting Communities for Drug Safety Collaboration (the Collaboration), which will help inform the Sentinel Initiative, is a public-private sector effort conducted in partnership with the FDA. The purpose of the project is to test and evaluate the feasibility and value of using electronic health information--through a distributed model--to support post-market surveillance and drug safety.
"We are delighted to be partnering with eHI on this important project," said Janet Woodcock, MD, Director, Director, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration. "The results of the pilots will help us evaluate methods and technical approaches for using electronic data to support post-market surveillance and assess the legal and institutional policy issues involved".
The Collaboration just completed in April 2008 its first iteration of testing and evaluation of using a combination of clinical data from electronic health records and other clinical systems and administrative claims data to detect and evaluate drug safety signals for a set of three "use cases."
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eHealth Initiative Foundation Launches Collaborative Research Effort to Improve Drug Safety
Multi-stakeholder initiative will use health information technology to accelerate the timeliness and effectiveness of drug safety efforts across the U.S.
WASHINGTON - NOVEMBER 29, 2007 - The non-profit eHealth Initiative Foundation (eHI) announced today the formation of an innovative research program designed to improve drug safety for patients. The eHI Connecting Communities for Drug Safety Collaboration is a public-private sector effort designed to test new approaches and develop replicable tools for assessing both the risks and the benefits of new drug treatments through the use of health information technology.
Results of the collaborative effort will be placed in the public domain to accelerate the timeliness and effectiveness of drug safety efforts. Using a set of three "use cases" the project will test and evaluate the value and utility of blinded, anonymized, electronic clinical health information to detect and evaluate drug safety signals. Using clinical information - while protecting patients' privacy - promises to accelerate the timeliness, accuracy, and effectiveness of methods currently used to monitor drug safety and facilitate healthcare system response.
The Collaboration is coordinated and led by the eHealth Initiative, a non-profit, multi-stakeholder organization whose mission is to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of health care through information and information technology. With guidance from eHIs multi-stakeholder Leadership Council, the collaboration involves three leading healthcare companies - Pfizer Inc., Johnson & Johnson, and Eli Lilly and Company and two community-based healthcare organizations with advanced stage clinical information systems - Parners HealthCare System and the Regenstrief Institute.
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eHealth Initiative Releases Results of 2007 Survey on Health Information Exchange
Trends show advancement in a small number of markets, but action is needed to support U.S. health information exchange sustainability now more than ever
WASHINGTON - December 19, 2007 - Today, the multi-stakeholder non-profit eHealth Initiative (eHI) released the results of its 2007 Fourth Annual Survey of Health Information Exchange at the State, Regional and Community Levels, taking stock of 130 community-based efforts designed to improve health and healthcare through the mobilization of health information electronically.
Twenty of the 130 initiatives included in the 2007 survey are just getting started, 68 are in the process of implementation, 32 are operational, five are no longer moving forward, and five did not respond to the survey question regarding stage of development.
