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Quest Diagnostics to Offer Free E-Prescribing Trial


Quest Diagnostics recently announced plans to make it easy for every physician in the United States to embrace digital healthcare technology with a six-month, risk-free trial of its Care360 e-prescribing service. For physicians currently using its Care360 Labs & Meds service, the company will activate the Care360 e-prescribing service for six months, risk free, enabling them to easily opt in and begin e-prescribing. The company is extending the same opportunity to any physician in the United States interested in trying e-prescribing in their practice without obligation. The offer is available to physicians who begin use of the Care360 e-prescribing service before December 18, 2009. Today, approximately 150,000, or more than 20%, of U.S. physicians are connected to Quest Diagnostics Care360 solutions.
 
Care360 e-prescribing, which is certified by Surescripts, is a service in the Quest Diagnostics Care360 suite of HIT. Physicians who use Care360 e-prescribing can access formulary information, act upon FDA alerts, handle refills, send and print prescriptions, and take advantage of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services incentives. Since December 2008, the number of medications written through Care360 e-prescribing has more than doubled to an annualized rate of 10 million.
 
Physicians using Care360 Labs & Meds, including the Care360 e-prescribing service, from their personal computer can now access these services from their Apple iPhone or iPod touch using Care360 Mobile. With Care360 Mobile, physicians have the ability to view, from the convenience of their iPhones, patient allergies and problems, lab results, medication history, and potential drug interactions. Physicians subscribed to Care360 e-prescribing can, from their iPhones, create and send a new prescription in three simple steps using medication and pharmacy databases and can also renew existing prescriptions. The application can be found under Medical applications in the Apple App Store and downloaded at no charge. It supports charting prescriptions electronically alongside lab results and enhances patient safety with alerts to drug interactions and contraindications.
 
For physicians who begin use of Care360 e-prescribing before December 18, 2009, Quest Diagnostics will send no billing of the monthly license fee during the first six months of use. At the end of six months, physicians may discontinue use of Care360 e-prescribing with no obligation or continue use of e-prescribing, paying half the service’s standard monthly fee for the prior six months. Subsequent use of Care360 e-prescribing will be billed at the standard monthly rate.
 
Source: Quest Diagnostics