Kansas City, Missouri-based Cerner is implementing Surescripts’ Real-Time Prescription Benefit tool into its Millennium EHR.
Through the installation, patients will be able to get price information regarding their medications at the point of care.
Surescripts’ tool utilizes data from pharmacy benefit managers. Patients whose plans are connected to certain PBMs can then get their out-of-pocket cost for specific prescriptions. They can also get information on their deductible and medication quantity restrictions.
Cerner’s customers will start implementing the Real-Time Prescription Benefit functionality into their EHRs next month. The tool will be added to Cerner ePrescribe and will be free to all Cerner’s clients.
In a statement, Cerner president Zane Burke noted that through this endeavor, “not only will people have added visibility to their choices of prescriptions, but individuals can work together with their physicians to create a medication plan they can adhere to and afford.”
The EHR vendor’s collaboration with Surescripts was initially announced last November. The Arlington, Virginia company teamed up not only with Cerner, but with other vendors (such as Allscripts, Epic and GE Healthcare, to name a few) and pharmacy benefit managers CVS Health and Express Scripts.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Their joint effort resulted in the Real-Time Prescription Benefit tool. Via email at the time, Surescripts CEO Tom Skelton said the path to developing this tool took place over multiple years.
“We had to build out e-prescribing and reach critical mass to ensure the market was ready before we could start adding on enhanced functionality like this,” he said. “Building a network like this requires allied and committed partners, and we’ve been overwhelmed by the interest in this from across markets.”
Photo: gerenme, Getty Images
