The two largest networks dedicated to e-prescribing medication are merging, the firms announced Tuesday. Alexandria-based SureScripts is merging with St. Paul, Minn.-based RxHub in a cashless transaction. The new company, tentatively called SureScripts-RxHub LLC, will have dual headquarters in both locations.
“This is something we have been talking about for a number of years, and I think we got to the right moment in time to pull the trigger,” said J.P. Little, co-CEO of the combined firm.
SureScripts produces technology that routes prescriptions from physicians’ offices to pharmacies. RxHub’s system provides information about patients’ benefit programs to doctors they can use during the electronic prescribing process.
According to Peter Wilensky, vice president of ZixCorp, an e-prescribing vendor, the merger will be good for the industry because it will further streamline the process.
“I don’t know whether it will bring anyone else into the industry, but to the extent it will be easier to work with the companies, this will be a boost,” Peter Wilensky.
The biggest hurdle, though, for e-prescribing, has been getting doctors to adopt the technology. Though the industry is growing, with close to 100 million electronic prescriptions expected to be filed during 2008, that only represents 10 percent of the potential market.
“There’s an investment physicians have to make in order to implement the system,” said Kenneth Schafermeyer, a professor of pharmacy administration at St. Louis College of Pharmacy.
Congress is currently considering legislation that would provide incentives for physicians to use e-prescribing.
