NEW ORLEANS – An alliance of chain and independent pharmacies and SureScripts, a company that operates the national Pharmacy Health Information Exchange, last week ranked Massachusetts first in the nation for e-prescribing, and Rhode Island, second.
Rhode Island had been No. 1 last year, and Massachusetts No. 3. But while last year, the “Safe-Rx” awards were based just on the share of a state’s doctors who were connected to the electronic exchange (Rhode Island is now up to about 30 percent), this year other factors were considered, including the share of prescriptions conveyed electronically in each state, according to a spokeswoman for the R.I. Department of Health.
SureScripts did not release specific figures on either front, so direct comparisons cannot be made. Instead, last week’s announcement focused on the states’ accomplishments, such as Massachusetts’ eRx Collaborative, started in 2003 by Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Tufts Health Plan and Neighborhood Health Plan, which to date has led to 7.8 million electronic prescriptions.
