SureScripts Frequently Asked Questions

Transcription

1 SureScripts Frequently Asked Questions What is the SureScripts Electronic Prescribing Network? The SureScripts Electronic Prescribing Network is the nation's largest and seeks to improve the prescribing process by providing true electronic connectivity between pharmacies and physician offices while providing a foundation for future advancements. Similar to the network that connects banks to Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), the SureScripts network seamlessly connects physicians with pharmacies. The network allows the secure, reliable transmission and delivery of electronic prescription orders and renewal authorization requests between computers at the pharmacy and computers at the physician's office. SureScripts does not develop, sell or endorse electronic prescribing software, but instead works with pharmacy and physician technology vendors to certify their prescribing software systems for connection to the SureScripts network. Electronic communications over the SureScripts network will help to ensure safer, more efficient, and higher quality prescription communications between physicians and pharmacists. How will a connection to the SureScripts Electronic Prescribing Network benefit my practice? Through true electronic connectivity to the majority of the nation's pharmacies SureScripts has signed contracts, tested and certified the software of pharmacies, and pharmacy technology vendors, that represent over 85% of U.S. retail pharmacies for connection to its network. Through improved efficiency Prescription renewal authorization requests are sent to your computer, rather than by phone or fax. Time spent phoning and faxing to authorize refills and clarify prescriptions is minimized. Through improved safety Potential errors due to misread prescriptions and look-alike or sound-alike names are reduced. By increasing staff productivity Staff workflow is simplified, allowing completion of refill authorizations in much less time than by phone or fax. Can I use an electronic prescribing application for refill authorizations, but write new prescriptions as I have done traditionally? Refill authorizations are often

2 the easiest way to start with electronic prescribing and to see time savings and benefits for your practice. Many electronic prescribing solutions that are certified to connect to the SureScripts network have applications that allow physicians to adopt technology at a rate that works best for their practice. How do systems that are certified to connect to the SureScripts electronic prescribing network differ from other electronic prescribing applications? Many electronic prescribing systems are connected to pharmacies by fax and these systems provide no ability for pharmacies to send refill authorization requests directly to physician practice computers. Therefore they cannot help to ease the burden of time consuming telephone and fax transmissions currently associated with these requests. Electronic prescribing solutions that are certified by SureScripts have true electronic connectivity to the nation's chain and independent community pharmacies. This allows new prescription orders and refill authorizations to be sent directly between the computers in your practice to the computers at your local pharmacies. Automating the refill authorization process offers the potential for significant time savings at the physician practice as time spent managing these requests via phone or fax is minimized. What pharmacies are ready to receive prescriptions via SureScripts network? Are pharmacies in my area ready to communicate with me electronically? Today, SureScripts has signed agreements, tested and certified the software of pharmacies and pharmacy technology vendors representing more than 85% of U.S. retail pharmacies for connection to its network. The SureScripts network is already active in more than 20 states. Including: Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. How are controlled substances handled? Controlled substances are currently not permitted to be filled via electronic means. If a user attempts to send a controlled substance electronically - a system message informs the user that this medication can not be filled this way and offers options to print or fax. What if the patient's pharmacy only receives faxes? If the pharmacy selected to receive the prescription does not have electronic prescription capability, the electronic prescribing application you use will only present options to Fax or Print (depending on the system used and the settings for that location). How secure is the information the pharmacy and I exchange on the network? SureScripts and its Certified Solution Providers use dedicated leased line, VPN and/or SSL, network technologies that are compliant with HIPAA security requirements.

3 Why do some pharmacies send me faxes even though I use electronic prescribing software? Today, over 85% of retail pharmacies have certified their software to connect to a common, secure network, SureScripts. This enables them to send renewal requests and receive prescription data electronically to and from practices like yours. Electronic prescribing can replace voice and paperbased communications with a totally electronic process. Some circumstances will still require that you receive prescription-related faxes, but if you believe you are receiving faxes erroneously or unnecessarily, please let your technology vendor know. How can I be certain that the pharmacy will receive my new prescription or renewal authorization when I send it electronically? SureScripts manages a central directory of pharmacies and physicians that have signed up for electronic prescribing, and the technology vendors they use work closely with SureScripts and their customers to stay in sync. The chances of the pharmacy not receiving a prescription sent electronically are very small. However, if a pharmacy you are sending to is not enabled to accept a prescription electronically, the request will be sent by fax. If you send an electronic prescribing message that cannot be delivered to the destination within a certain time period (a specified number of minutes) because of other issues, the SureScripts network will send an error message notifying you that the message could not be delivered. What should I do if I receive an error message that my electronic prescription didn t go to the pharmacy? If the electronic prescription did not go to the pharmacy because the pharmacy is not enabled to accept electronic prescriptions, it will automatically be sent by fax. Depending upon the urgency of the prescription, you may want to call the pharmacy. You should also contact your physician technology vendor to report the error. How are the prescribing messages that I send handled at the pharmacy? Pharmacies generally have a centralized queue to which all pending prescriptions are routed. From here, the pharmacy personnel can see the incoming prescriptions and refills and prioritize them accordingly. Pharmacies usually handle prescriptions and refill renewal authorizations in the order in which they arrive, but because electronic prescriptions are sent electronically, they can get into the queue early on. Does electronic prescribing offer the patient advantages? For patients, an important advantage of a prescription being sent electronically is that the message is already formatted in such a way that the pharmacy computer can assimilate the information for

4 rapid dispensing. You also have the comfort of knowing that an accurate, legible prescription will arrive at the pharmacy, that it won t get lost, misplaced, destroyed or forgotten by the patient. Is the information sent to the pharmacy sold or shared with any third party? No. Information sent on the SureScripts network is private and confidential. It is not shared with any third party. SureScripts was founded by the National Community Pharmacy Association and the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, and continues to be pharmacy owned. As such, the company is highly sensitive to all privacy issues. When I prescribe electronically, will the system try to influence my decisions? No. Because SureScripts is pharmacy owned, one of its founding principles is to ensure that there is no commercial messaging on the network. Electronic prescribing software that is connected to the neutral SureScripts network means your vendor completed a certification process to ensure that there is no commercial messaging at the point of care. The network also protects your choice of therapy and your patient s choice of pharmacy. All prescribing systems certified to connect to the SureScripts electronic prescribing network are required to abide by these rules, and only physician technology companies that agree with this philosophy are allowed to connect to the SureScripts network. How do I know if a particular pharmacy accepts electronic prescriptions? Your electronic prescribing software vendor has up-to-the-minute access to a list of all pharmacies that are connected to the SureScripts network. Each e-prescribing application operates differently, but in general, your software provider should update your selection list with newly connected pharmacies on a regular schedule. Contact your software vendor to find out their specific process for notification of new pharmacies. If a local pharmacy does not accept electronic prescriptions today, how can I get them to start? Contact your local pharmacies and let them know that you are using prescribing software that is connected to the SureScripts network. More than 85% of the nation s pharmacies have software that is enabled to connect to the SureScripts network, although not all have activated their connections yet. Urge pharmacies that have not activated their connections yet to contact their vendors to activate them or tell them when their software will be enabled. Can electronic prescribing be used for Medicaid prescriptions? What restrictions apply? Doctors can prescribe electronically for most Medicaid prescriptions. However, if a physician wants to prohibit generic substitution by specifying DAW (Dispense as Written) or Brand Medically Necessary, the federal government requires the physician to hand sign a hard copy of the

5 prescription as a pharmacy audit copy. This requirement prevents e-prescribing from being an acceptable transmission option for the small percentage of Medicaid prescriptions that are DAW. SureScripts is working closely with regulatory and other agencies to attempt to change this restriction. Do pharmacies wait until they hear from me to start sending me renewal requests? No. As soon as you can send prescriptions electronically, pharmacies can and will begin sending you renewal requests. Neither you nor your staff has to initiate them. What should I do when I get duplicate requests from a pharmacy? Sometimes, if a pharmacy doesn t hear back from you in a while, it will resend the request to get your attention. The best way to respond to these duplicates is to deny with a rejection code and free text that indicates already responded to or previously completed. If at all possible, please make a best effort to respond in a timely fashion.