The Kansas City-based EHR (electronic health record) vendor Cerner has collaborated with CoverMyMeds to integrate patient-specific information into the EHR for providers to review prescription pricing information with their patients at the point of care.
Cerner officials, in a press release this week, noted that prescription price transparency can help simplify conversations between individuals and their providers to create personalized care plans that meet a person’s medical and financial needs. The Ohio-based electronic prior authorization vendor CoverMyMeds, which started in 2008, was acquired by McKesson in January 2017.
According to officials, when implemented, providers will be able to view prescription benefit information in the EHR before medication is prescribed. Integrating CoverMyMeds’ RxBenefit Clarity solution into the Cerner ePrescribe workflow will leverage additional information from industry stakeholders that was not previously available, including a comprehensive pharmacy network and payers, to deliver patient pay and benefit information at the point of prescribing, they added.
The Cerner functionality is currently live across 261 hospitals and health systems and nearly 1,600 clinics and is available for Cerner clients to integrate into the Cerner Millennium health IT platform through Cerner ePrescribe, enabled within the clinical workflow at no charge, officials added.
“We are collaborating with Cerner to help providers make personalized decisions for each of their patients when writing a prescription or creating a treatment plan,” Miranda Gill, R.N., director of clinical innovation, CoverMyMeds, said in a statement.
She added, “It is difficult for providers to have informed discussions with their patients that would help drive adherence when they don’t have accurate visibility into prescription price information and available assistance programs. We provide patient-specific benefit information to help inform providers’ clinical decisions and communication with patients that help solve for costly nonadherence, and ultimately help patients receive the medications they need to be healthy.”
Last February, Cerner similarly announced a collaboration with Surescripts, the Virginia-based e-prescription and prior authorization platform.
“As healthcare spending increases, the need for prescription price transparency is becoming as important as ever. Access to valuable pricing information gives health care providers the opportunity to provide their patients with up-to-date information on the most appropriate and cost-effective medications before they reach the pharmacy,” noted John Peterzalek, chief client officer, Cerner.
