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What is ePostRx™? |
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ePostRx™ is a back-office, enterprise management and connectivity business solution that will allow your company to be a successful player in the e-Pharmacy market. ePostRx™ is the technology solution businesses to enable secure, efficient and 100% digital communications from Point-to-Point(P2P). |
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Why was ePostRx™created? |
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The original business goals for developing ePostRx™ were to accelerate the adoption of electronic prescribing by providing B2B tools and services which:
Enable the pharmacy/healthcare market to connect, manage and intelligently transfer electronic prescription or SCRIPT data among business partners.
Address the operational impact of this new electronic medium by providing cost effective, open, secure and configurable solution(s).
The initial ePostRx™ technology was created to provide a cost effective, alternative B2B solution to the current pricy prescription delivery hubs. If you know your partners or operate in a closed network environment, ePostRx allows your business to communicate and manage the real-time/P2P electronic transfer of prescription data between any business entity that prescribes or dispenses prescriptions.
In 2004, ANSHealth evolved the core SCRIPT and B2B ecommerce engine into the industry's only single source, end-to-end, centralized enterprise solution that can support all your electronic SCRIPT, Prescription Management and Rx Dispensing requirements regardless of business model (Retail, Chain Retail, Mail Order and Central Fill). |
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Who would use ePostRx™? |
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ePostRx™was designed with Business-to-Business (B2B) in mind. Just as in a B2B model where partners trade information electronically to satisfy their business needs, ePostRx™ allows businesses to communicate and manage the electronic transfer of prescription data among trading partners or business entities who prescribe or dispense prescriptions.
A business entity can be a Provider, Point-of-Care provider (POC), Mail Order, Retail Pharmacy, Chain Pharmacy, Central Fill, Clinic, Hospital, Internet Connectivity Hub, on-line Prescription Exchange, etc.
The ePostRx™ business solution can enhance any pharmacy business model that has the need to electronically transfer prescription data among these business entities. Users can manage the data exchange via a web based management console which provides centralized, secure P2P digital connectivity for all entities involved. |
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Is ePostRx a subscription service? |
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Not really. However, because our solutions are 100% web applications, they can be hosted internally and accessed via a browser. Additionally, we do offer a solution called ePostRx Translator which is a hosted version of our flagship product. Using our web service eliminates costly startup costs and learning curve(s) related to implementing NCPDPD SCRIPT such as:
- Hiring an EDI specialist/consultant who knows pharmacy and NCPDP SCRIPT standards(s).
- Managing the various SCRIPT version/release standards currently used in the industry by NCPDP, Surescript, ProxyMed, RxHub etc..
- Reinventing the software currently developed by ANSHealth.
If your looking for a low-cost solution to build/translate your SCRIPT messages, just download our toolkit and let our web service do the rest! Contact ANSHealth for more details.
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Why use the NCPDP SCRIPT Standard? |
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By utilizing the industry SCRIPT standard as defined by the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP), ePostRx™ can facilitate the transfer of electronic prescription data among any entity that adopts this standard. The current standard supports messages regarding new prescriptions, prescription changes, refill requests, prescription fill status notification, and prescription cancellation. In the future, NCPDP plans to enhance the standard with messages that include lab values, diagnosis, patient drug profiles, DUR Alerts, and formulary inquires. |
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What are the advantages for using ePostRx™? |
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With ePostRx™, any business that handles prescription data can become a electronic participate in e-prescribing. Businesses now have a secure, cost effective solution to communicate and manage their prescription transactions with their business partners. The efficiencies gained will reduce overhead and increase productivity allowing each business to effectively meet the growing volume of prescriptions, which is expected to reach nearly four billion in 2002. |
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Does ePostRx compete with the new Internet connectivity hubs? |
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Quite the contrary. ePostRx™ is a middleware solution that allows any business to communicate and manage their business transactions with an internet connectivity hub. Depending upon your pharmacy business model, you can define an Internet connectivity hub or on-line prescription exchange as an entity your business will trade prescription data with. ePostRx™ allows your business to centrally manage and securely transfer prescription data to that entity. Additionally, these hubs are just gateways that do not focus on the operational impact to your pharmacy business by supporting this new medium. ePostRx™ addresses these issues and more by providing a cost effective, open and secure middleware solution that is easily configurable to mirror a pharmacy’s business environment |
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How does ePostRx guard against prescription errors? |
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Because ePostRx™ performs field level validation as per the NCPDP SCRIPT standard, ePostRx™ can further business peace of mind that the prescription has meet industry standards. If you are trading with an Internet connectivity hub or on-line prescription exchange, this point is imperative because rejected requests could be costly. |
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Does ePostRx conduct drug utilization review (DUR) or Third Party adjudication? |
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Depends. ePostRx™ Standard and Professional versions are NOT Pharmacy Software, a Physician Ordering System or even an Internet Connectivity or Exchange Hub. It is the technology needed by them all to enable secure, efficient and 100% digital communications from Point-to-Point(P2P). ePostRx™ is the communication/management technology that 'e-enables' pharmacy business.
ePostRx™ Enterprise version does provide clinical DUR checking. |
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What functions can I perform through ePostRx™? |
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ePostRx™ is fully compliant with NCPDP SCRIPT standard (version 4+). The current standard supports messages regarding new prescriptions, prescription changes, refill requests, prescription fill status notification, and prescription cancellation. In the future, as NCPDP enhances the standard with messages that include lab values, diagnosis, patient drug profiles, DUR Alerts, and formulary inquires, ePostRx will be updated accordingly.
ANS is working to provide ePostRx™ with an Inventory API the will allow businesses to integrate electronic prescription requests directly with their existing Product Inventory system. |
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What vendor technology does ePostRx™use? |
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ePostRx™ is developed using the latest web and enterprise technologies and architectures such as HTTP, Java, EJB, XML, JCE, XSL, XML Encryption, Digital Certificates and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). |
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What is the ePostRxBridge™? |
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The ePostRxBridge™ is an non-proprietary Application Programming Interface (API) that extends the NCPDP SCRIPT standard to allow users to communicate with the ePostRx™ Transaction Server and send and receive electronic prescription data. The ePostRxBridge™ is available in Java, XML and Java Native Interface (JNI) and can be easily integrated into any Pharmacy application. |
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Will I need to upgrade or buy new management software for my practice or pharmacy? |
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Not with ePostRx Standard or Professional versions. However, reasonable software modifications are required to allow your pharmacy management system to interface with the ePostRxBridge™.
ePostRx™ Enterprise is the Pharmacy Management system. |
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Can I use ePostRx in my state? |
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Many states allow electronic prescriptions. As of June 2001, 12 states did not allow prescriptions to be transmitted electronically, and federal law does not yet allow electronic transmission of controlled substance prescriptions. The Drug Enforcement Administration is drafting regulations, however, that should allow this to take place in the near future. It is imperative that your company verify that transmission of electronic prescriptions are legal in states you service. |
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Will ePostRx™ provide future support for the DEAs Electronic Prescription for Controlled Substance (EPCS)? |
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Yes. Because the core design of ePostRx™ is predicated upon a B2B model which includes implementation of Digital Certificates and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) for non-repudiation among trading partners, the proposed DEA PKI architecture is already supported by ePostRx™. Once the DEAs proposals become a standard, ePostRx™ will provide full support for EPCS. |
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ePostRx™ Frequently Asked Questions