NEPSI – Free E-Prescribing Solutions with Microsoft HealthVault and Google Health

I have had the link to NEPSI on this site for quite a while. Just this week Quest Diagnostics announced their integration with Microsoft HealthVault.

In looking back on some of the past press on the internet, Quest Labs is also a NEPSI partner. (see the article from October 2007 below).

A lot has changed and we have experienced a lot of growth since that time. I had the opportunity to assist a physician signing up with NEPSI recently and when you sign up, there is a place to check for exporting data to a PHR, namely Google Health and HealthVault, so be sure if you sign up, to be sure and check that box.

I looked around to see how patient data was entered. The software is Allscripts E-Prescribing and requires patients to be entered manually. This is not too bad though as there are just a few mandatory fields, so it’s not that lengthy. Patient Account number, name, DOB, Zip code and a couple others are about it. When enrolling, the process to verify that it is in fact you who is enrolling was quite interesting. The software mines the web and other public information that may contain information about you, and then poses questions about the information. For instance, one question asked about where the individual had lives over 30 years ago, and the question asked was, is this a house, and apartment, etc. so pretty specific and one would pretty much of had to have lived there to know the answer. If nothing else, you will have a very good idea about what some of the information that is publicly available about you on the web when signing up.

That part of the privacy was impressive to see how the questions were presented and gathered. The pharmacies are there to find via zip code and an email address for the patient is needed in the demographic information. In addition, under tools, there’s a link to Quest Diagnostics Care 360 page as well. This practice was already enrolled and the information showed in NEPSI that the practice was set up to work with the web site to send and retrieve lab results. With the announcement this week of Quest working with HealthVault, the information from the lab side is up and ready to go to the personal health record as well. Google Health announced a few months ago that their PHR works with NEPSI as well.

This is the page from the HealthVault site and it described and give the links and details on how to get started and Google Health has a similar page.

Earlier I mentioned changes in the last year. As companies are changing marketing directions and taking on and providing additional services, it will be interesting to follow the collaborating efforts of all too. This should not affect the PHRs much other than providing connectivity, but what I am thinking about here is the MedPlus portion of Quest Diagnostics who also offer e-prescribing and have for quite a while. How will all of this come together for the interest of healthcare overall?

For the “free” version of Allscripts, you need to enter the information for each patient, while if you upgrade for a cost, the patient demographics will be integrated. You can’t blame Allscripts there as they have donated a big portion of the software for free use, which is a good thing so trying to obtain a small amount of revenue for additional features is pretty standard in software. From the lab side of things, Quest has done the integration of data via Care 360 to help get the existing patient data base in their lab program with the exchange of data for users. Will MedPlus and Care 360 share this? I am guessing there is or might be some potential here. Also, will the marketing of the MedPlus plan have any overall affect on working with other e-prescribing companies like Allscripts? MedPlus also recently announced their participation as a RHIO provider as well with Centergy and completed their testing with HHS.

Back on track here, using NEPSI works with PHRs and will qualify for the 2% Medicare bonus. I can’t tell you the difference in the less amount of chaos with offices using e-prescribing. No more fax bots from the pharmacies. I say fax bots as it cuts down the paper flow and all the physician or authorized assistant needs to do is log on and basically say OK for the refill and all the paper faxes are gone. Just think of what it will save with ink and paper. Also, it gets rid of the ringing phones doing the same thing and gives the medical assistant more time to be in the examining room with the doctor and patients. It makes life easier on the pharmacies too as they don’t have to keep sending all the faxes to track as well, even though most are on an automated faxing system that is set with preferences for communicating with each practice. BD

Allscripts has a long history of collaborating with Microsoft in Healthcare. In fact, Allscripts is the first EHR company to connect with HealthVault. We’ve built compatibility between the Allscripts ePrescribe solution and HealthVault so that physicians, upon request from their patients, can send a copy of the patient’s medication list, conditions, and allergies to their HealthVault account. Once in HealthVault, a patient can use that data electronically in any other HealthVault enabled consumer health application such as a PHR or Wellness solution

Please click here to register for the free Allscripts ePrescribe tool. After completing your registration for Allscripts ePrescribe, you will be ready to work with your patients to populate their HealthVault account with their medications, allergies and conditions derived from your new electronic health solution.