Greenway and ChartLogic First EHR Solutions to Send Controlled Substance E-Prescriptions Utilizing DrFirst's EPCS Gold™ | DrFirst

Rockville, Md. (October 31, 2011)–DrFirst announces that Greenway Medical Technologies and ChartLogic are the first EHR solution providers in the country whose users are sending controlled substance prescriptions electronically. Both firms participated in a pilot implementation of EPCS Gold™, DrFirst’s industry-wide, controlled substance e-prescribing solution. This service allows qualified physicians to send Schedule II-V drugs electronically to eligible pharmacies.

“Greenway and ChartLogic are long-time members of the DrFirst Open Borders program,” explained Zach Fox, vice president, partner programs at DrFirst. “As participants in the pilot implementation of EPCS Gold™, they demonstrated that this platform is ready for broad adoption among EHR vendors who wish to offer electronic controlled substance prescribing to their clients today.”

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. EPCS Gold™ includes identity proofing, two-factor authentication, digital signing, and other components required by the DEA in order to legally prescribe controlled drugs electronically. By integrating EPCS Gold™ with existing HIT systems, vendors have an opportunity to avoid lengthy development cycles, certifications, and audits, getting to market with EPCS without the costs and maintenance issues inherent in traditional approaches.

“We designed 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,” explained G. Cameron Deemer, president of DrFirst. “EHR and HIS vendors face many hurdles in getting to market with an EPCS capability; we wanted to remove those obstacles.”

Physicians in Berkshire County, Mass., began utilizing DrFirst’s EPCS 1.0 in a pilot program funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) under the auspices of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and a waiver from the DEA. Through this pilot program, DrFirst was the first and only e-prescribing company to publically demonstrate the nation’s first end-to-end EPCS system. DrFirst was able to apply both the findings from the pilot and the requirements outlined in the DEA’s Interim Final Rule (IFR) to substantially enhance EPCS Gold™ for the 2.0 version of the product.

“Today is truly a landmark occasion for e-prescribing and electronic health records,” said Thomas Sullivan, MD, chief strategic officer at DrFirst. “After years of working with the DEA, software programmers, security specialists, healthcare experts and pharmacies, the inclusion of schedule II-V controlled substances advances the country toward universal e-prescribing.”

About DrFirst
Founded in 2000, DrFirst is the nation’s leading e-prescribing solution provider to physician practices, major health plans, health systems, hospitals, and EHR companies. Through its Open Borders program, DrFirst solutions are widely integrated with over 200 EHR and HIS systems. A Surescripts Gold Certified solution provider for four consecutive years, DrFirst offers the award-winning Rcopia™ electronic prescription management system. DrFirst utilizes the Surescripts network for pharmacy connectivity, health plan information, and patient medication history.

About Greenway Medical Technologies, Inc.
Greenway Medical Technologies provides innovative EHR, ambulatory healthcare and clinical research business solutions and services to more than 33,000 healthcare providers nationwide in 30 specialties and subspecialties, by enhancing the delivery of patient care through advanced health IT software and on-demand services that allow physician practices to function at their highest level of efficiency in group practice, IDN, REC, HIE, IPA, Accountable Care Organization (ACO) and Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) settings. Established in 1998, Carrollton, Ga.-based Greenway is a privately held company with more than 500 employees.

About ChartLogic
ChartLogic, located in Salt Lake City, Utah, offers an extensive, customizable EHR solution that has the ability to electronically create and store required patient health record documentation. To date, ChartLogic has assisted thousands of practices across the country with the transition from paper to a paperless environment. The company is dedicated to helping physicians provide better patient care through improved technology.