OVERLAND PARK, KS & ROCKVILLE, MD. – Sprint (NYSE:FON) and DrFirst, a provider of unique software solutions for physicians, hospitals and clinics, announced today an agreement that will allow Sprint to directly offer DrFirst’s wireless ePrescribing solution to healthcare providers. Under the agreement, DrFirst’s Rcopia electronic prescription management system will be available on select Sprint PCS smart devices as part of Sprint’s healthcare mobility solutions strategy announced with palmOne, Inc. in February.
“Sprint is pleased to add DrFirst’s Rcopia application to its healthcare mobility solutions portfolio,” said Judy Train, director of healthcare marketing, Sprint Business Solutions. “By combining unique applications with our innovative devices and the capabilities of the enhanced Sprint Nationwide PCS Network, Sprint is able to offer physicians and healthcare organizations many end-to-end mobility solutions for improving patient care and business efficiencies.”
Sprint anticipates to begin offering DrFirst’s solutions directly through it various sales channels in the next sixty days. Physicians interested in more information can send an email to karen.o.mathes@mail.sprint.com or visit www.sprintbiz.com/solutions/healthcare.
Rcopia ePrescribing is an electronic prescription management system that provides physicians and their staff with an easy to use, web- and PDA-based system of writing and managing the entire prescription process from start to finish. Rcopia creates, modifies, saves, prints and faxes or electronically delivers the prescription directly and securely to the pharmacy — from practically any computer, desktop or handheld, that is connected to the Internet. The application can ease the burdens of prescription management for physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and office management staff. Benefits of Rcopia include:
• Legible scripts for pharmacies, thereby reducing dangerous errors and time consuming follow-up calls
• Easy to use: creates prescriptions quickly and accurately from pick lists
• Accessible from anywhere — the office, hospital, and home
• Connectivity — wireless LAN, WAN, IR port, cellular data services and docking environment
• Remembers the most recently entered pharmacy and medication dosage/interval for a patient
• Remembers the physicians’ preferred ways of prescribing
• Warns of possible allergic and drug-to-drug interactions and compliance with insurance formularies
• For increased security, data is encrypted on the PDA using state-of-the-art 3-DES encryption
Rcopia’s features and functionality were recently recognized by the Medical Records Institute for the 2004 TEPR top honors award in the ePrescription Management Systems category. The TEPR awards recognize outstanding healthcare information system solutions.
“We are pleased to be part of Sprint’s mobility solutions for the healthcare community,” said John F. Bartos, Jr., president of DrFirst. “By bundling our solutions, we are able to increase our respective value to the physician community. Working with Sprint to distribute this solution greatly assists our mission to further widespread adoption of ePrescribing and the significant benefits the technology brings to all participants in the process – the patient, the physician, the pharmacy and the insurer,” said Bartos.
Sprint is dedicated to providing integrated communication solutions that help healthcare providers balance patient care with cost management and comply with mandated regulations. Leveraging its unique portfolio of wireless and wireline assets, Sprint can provide complete managed mobility solutions designed for the healthcare market as well as digital imaging and telemedicine capabilities. Sprint has also built a strong portfolio of security products and services that healthcare organizations can use to address HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) security requirements. The company has been recognized for its leadership in vertical markets overall with the 2004 Frost & Sullivan Telecom Services Vertical Company of the Year Award and the 2002 Frost & Sullivan Market Engineering Leadership Award for Customized Healthcare Solutions.
About Sprint
Sprint is a global integrated communications provider serving more than 26 million customers in over 100 countries. With approximately 65,000 employees worldwide and over $26 billion in annual revenues in 2003, Sprint is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying state-of-the-art network technologies, including the United States’ first nationwide all-digital, fiber-optic network and an award-winning Tier 1 Internet backbone. Sprint provides local communications services in 39 states and the District of Columbia and operates the largest 100-percent digital, nationwide PCS wireless network in the United States. For more information, visit www.sprint.com.
DrFirst also provides the industries’ best secure text messaging platforms for physicians, hospitals and EMR/EHR vendors.
Media Contacts:
Robinette Dixon, Sprint, 913-794-3073
robinette.c.dixon@mail.sprint.com
DrFirst
sales@drfirst.com
Tel: (301) 231-9510
Fax: (301) 231-9512
www.drfirst.com