Rockville, MD, February 29, 2012
DrFirst’s EPCS Gold™ 2.0 – the first solution to meet all DEA criteria for electronically prescribing controlled substances – has now been adopted by more than 70 EHR firms through DrFirst’s Open Borders program. With this groundbreaking advance in e-prescribing, certified HIT companies are able to add electronic prescribing of controlled substances to the list of features provided to their clients. EPCS Gold™ eliminates the significant development time, complexity and costs for EHR vendors.
“These companies have become the first EHRs in the country to offer physicians the ability to prescribe controlled substances electronically,” said Zach Fox, VP of partner programs for DrFirst. “With the addition of EPCS Gold™, EHR vendors can offer doctors a complete e-prescribing solution.”
A pioneer in secure e-prescribing and currently the only vendor providing EPCS services, DrFirst offers EPCS Gold™ as a platform accessible to any EHR or HIS vendor. With the advent of controlled substance e-prescribing, practices can create a single workflow for all prescriptions. For years, the inability to e-prescribe controlled substances, combined with DEA restrictions, was an obstacle for the broad adoption of e-prescribing. As a result, many practices that prescribe large numbers of controlled substances avoided e-prescribing altogether. With EPCS Gold™, EHR vendors can now offer a comprehensive e-prescribing system.
“EHR and HIS companies face many hurdles in getting to market with an EPCS capability,” explained G. Cameron Deemer, president of DrFirst. “We have removed those obstacles by designing EPCS Gold™ to be a high-quality, scalable, DEA-compliant, fully certified, audited, and low cost solution to the industry’s need for electronic prescribing of controlled substances.
With EPCS Gold™, any EHR or HIS vendor can use DrFirst’s platform to eliminate or greatly reduce development costs, audits, certification, system operations and ongoing security and compliance for constructing and operating a controlled substance e-prescribing system that meets strict DEA requirements as found in the Interim Final Rule (IFR) and subsequent guidance. DrFirst’s expertise in providing platform solutions such as EPCS Gold allows vendors to get to market quickly with a high quality offering.
DrFirst believes EHR and HIS vendors realize a significant competitive advantage with EPCS Gold™. The ability to electronically prescribe controlled substances will encourage more medical professionals to begin utilizing e-prescribing technology and to actively seek EHRs that include this functionality. For a listing of DrFirst partners who have added electronic prescribing of controlled substances to their EHRs, follow this link: http://info.drfirst.com/partnersforepcs/.
About DrFirst
Founded in 2000, DrFirst is the nation’s leading e-prescribing and solutions platform provider to physician practices, major health plans, health systems, hospitals, and EHR vendors. Through its Open Borders Program, DrFirst solutions integrate with over 200 EHR, practice management and HIT systems. A Surescripts Gold Certified solution provider for four consecutive years with its award-winning Rcopia electronic prescription management system, DrFirst utilizes the Surescripts network for pharmacy connectivity, health plan information, and patient medication history. For more information, visit http://www.drfirst.com.