Health Net of the Northeast, Inc., a subsidiary of Health Net, Inc. (NYSE:HNT), today announced a joint venture with the Connecticut State Medical Society-IPA, Inc. (CSMS-IPA) and Emdeon Business Services to connect Connecticut physicians to ‘e-prescription’ software as an alternative to hand-written prescriptions.
The technology helps reduce pharmacy errors benefiting Health Net plan members and other patients throughout the region.
Health Net will subsidize the cost of providing access to Emdeon’s ClinicianRx web-based software to all physician members of the CSMS-IPA who wish to participate. Physicians will be able to write e-prescriptions for all of their patients whether or not they are Health Net members.
The technology enables physicians to instantly send secure, electronic messages and encrypted data to pharmacies participating in Emdeon’s ClinicianRx network. According to Health Net, approximately 97 percent of its pharmacy providers in Connecticut have access to the network.
“As one of the nation’s leading health plans, we are constantly seeking ways to enhance patient safety and make the process of prescription drug treatment more efficient,” said Bill Lamoreaux, chief operating officer, Health Net of the Northeast. “This joint venture renders a proven technology more widely available to CSMS-IPA physicians in helping to raise the standard of care for millions of patients,” he added.
“This joint venture among the CSMS-IPA, Emdeon Business Services and Health Net will contribute to the quality, safety and efficiency of patient care and is being welcomed throughout our physician network,” said David Thompson, M.D., president, CSMS-IPA.
As an example of how e-prescriptions might improve health care services, The Institute of Medicine (IOM), a nonprofit organization based in Washington DC, estimated in a July 2006 report that 800,000 ‘adverse drug events’ occur annually at U.S. long-term health care facilities at a cost to hospitals of $3.5 billion. The study recommends that all prescribing physicians and pharmacies use e-prescription technology as a way of dramatically reducing the problem.
The use of e-prescription technology also addresses “hand-off errors” that can occur when patients move from one part of the health care system to another. A prescription tied to an electronic record is easier to check against a patient’s record for information on, for example, allergies and potential drug interactions, the IOM report states.
About Health Net
Health Net of the Northeast, Inc., headquartered in Shelton, Conn., employs approximately 1,800 associates in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. Health Net of the Northeast, through its subsidiaries, offers full-service health plans that serve nearly one million members in the tri-state area. The Northeast health plans offer a wide array of products including: Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), Point-of-Service (POS), Preferred Provider Organization (PPO), Third-party administration, Medicare and Medicaid. With a physician network comprising more than 90,000 physician and provider office locations, Health Net is one of the largest health plans in the northeast, offering a full array of open-access products and coordination for multi-region employers.
Health Net of the Northeast is a subsidiary of Health Net, Inc. (NYSE:HNT). Health Net, Inc. is among the nation’s largest publicly traded managed health care companies. Its mission is to help people be healthy, secure and comfortable. The company’s health plan and government contracts subsidiaries provide health benefits to approximately 6.6 million individuals across the country through group, individual, Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE and Veterans Affairs programs. Health Net’s behavioral health subsidiary, MHN, provides mental health benefits to approximately 7.1 million individuals in all 50 states. The company’s subsidiaries also offer managed health care products related to prescription drugs, and offer managed health care product coordination for multi-region employers and administrative services for medical groups and self-funded benefits programs.
For more information on Health Net, Inc., visit www.healthnet.com.
About CSMS-IPA
The Connecticut State Medical Society – IPA, Inc. (CSMS-IPA), with offices located in New Haven and Shelton, Conn., is one of the largest IPA’s in the country and the only state wide IPA in Conn. CSMS-IPA provides Health Net with a network of 7,000 physicians covering nearly all lines of Health Net business in Conn. The mission of the CSMS-IPA is to promote high quality, cost effective medical care that is physician-driven, financially sustainable and valued by health care stakeholders. For more information on CSMS-IPA, please visit www.csms-ipa.com.
About Emdeon Business Services
Emdeon Business Services is a leading provider of revenue cycle management and clinical communication solutions that enables payers, providers and patients to improve healthcare business processes. Its solutions are designed to simplify the business and improve the delivery of healthcare for providers, payers and patients. Emdeon Business Services is owned by General Atlantic and HLTH Corporation (NASDAQ: HLTH). To learn more about Emdeon Business Services, visit www.emdeon.com/business_services.php.