Physicians Interactive eCoupon Launched within Greenway PrimeSUITE EHR

READING, Mass., June 2, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Physicians Interactive (PI), the leading provider of online and mobile clinical resources and solutions for healthcare professionals (HCPs), today announced that its eCoupon™ automated voucher and coupon distribution solution is now available within the latest version of Greenway Health's PrimeSUITE electronic health record (EHR) system. Greenway is a leading provider of ambulatory information solutions, including fully integrated EHRs.

The primary driver behind the activation of eCoupon within Greenway PrimeSUITE is to increase the number of patients who start and adhere to medication prescriptions in order to improve therapeutic outcomes. Nationally, 20 to 30 percent of prescribed medications are never filled,ⁱ while patients with chronic illnesses fail to take their medications as prescribed roughly 50 percent of the time.ⁱⁱ As Surgeon General Regina Benjamin stated regarding the Script Your Future campaign, "Doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals can help prevent many serious health complications by initiating conversations with their patients about the importance of taking medications as directed."

"The importance of filling prescriptions and adhering to the recommended program is well-documented, yet it remains a challenge for a variety of reasons," said Mark Janiszewski, Greenway Senior Vice President of Product Management. "Our belief is that if we connect life science companies to patients and clinicians at the point of care — offering them convenient ways to lower the initial cost of medications — we can improve therapeutic outcomes as well as bring down the overall cost of care. Partnering with Physicians Interactive on this eCoupon implementation gives us the ability to do that as we continue to support providers, patients and payers as part of a smarter, more effective healthcare system."

That future of healthcare includes ePrescriptions. Nationally, 73 percent of office-based physicians (an estimated 381,600) were actively ePrescribing by the end of 2013.ⁱⁱⁱ That number is up from the 69 percent of all physicians who were transmitting prescriptions electronically in 2012.

The integration of eCoupon into Greenway PrimeSUITE helps meet a growing demand from clinicians to incorporate patient-benefit resources within their ePrescribing workflow in order to drive more value out of each patient encounter. PrimeSUITE users will now be able to help patients with coupon and co-pay opportunities without having to leave their system. Over time, tens of thousands of Greenway customers across its solution set will have access to the eCoupon solution.

"Greenway has proven itself to be a dynamic, innovative market leader," said Donato Tramuto, CEO and Chairman of Physicians Interactive. "The inclusion of eCoupon demonstrates their commitment to helping providers improve their ability to work with patients and life sciences companies in order to create better outcomes. We look forward to continuing to work with Greenway on other projects that make healthcare delivery more efficient and effective." eCoupon is a core component of Physicians Interactive's innovative EHR Toolkit™, a suite of physician tools built into the prescriber workflow for maximum convenience and uptake. The Toolkit is a milestone in delivering solutions at the point-of-care to address ongoing challenges.

A study funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and published in the April 1 edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine found the high cost of medications is one of the leading factors in non-adherence.^iv  These results confirm a 2004 AARP survey that found that 40 percent of Americans over the age of 50 did not fill prescriptions because of cost – the leading reason given.^v

About Physicians Interactive

Headquartered in Reading, MA, PI aspires to use the power of worldwide networks of healthcare professionals and life sciences companies together in ways that will change the practice and business of medicine for the better. PI's value proposition is to offer the life science industry a low-cost, virtual, multi-channel marketing approach that can be used to supplement currently promoted products, as well as non-promoted and orphaned products, that deliver benefits to physicians and patients. A key focus is providing services that fit into physicians' and healthcare professionals' daily workflow at the point-of-care when they make diagnosis, treatment and prescribing decisions. More information can be found at www.PhysiciansInteractive.com.

Media Contact:
Tim Boivin
Amendola Communications for Physicians Interactive
224.209.6495
[email protected]

ⁱ Fischer MA, Stedman MR, Lii J, et al. (April 2010). "Primary medication non-adherence: analysis of 195,930 electronic prescriptions". J Gen Intern Med 25 (4): 284–90. doi:10.1007/s11606-010-1253-9. PMC 2842539. PMID 20131023.
ⁱⁱ Sabate E, editor. , ed. Adherence to Long-Term Therapies: Evidence for Action. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2003.
ⁱⁱⁱ "2013 National Progress Report on E-Prescribing and Safe-Rx Rankings." National Progress Report. Surescripts, n.d. Web. 23 May 2014. http://surescripts.com/docs/default-source/national-progress-reports/surescripts_2013_national_progress_report.pdf?sfvrsn=2
^iv Tamblyn, PhD, Robyn, Tewodros Eguale, MD, PhD, Allen Huang, MD, Nancy Winslade, PharmaD, and Pamela Doran, MSc. "The Incidence and Determinants of Primary Nonadherence with Prescribed Medication in Primary Care: a Cohort Study." Annals of Internal Medicine 160.7 (2014): 441-450. Print.
^v Barrett LL. Prescription drug use among midlife and older Americans. January 2005. http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/health/rx_midlife_plus.pdf.

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SOURCE Physicians Interactive