Often, regulatory changes are made more complicated by state-specific rules. Mandated prescription monitoring programs like New York state’s iSTOP and California CURES are recent examples. Although a vendor may release an e-prescribing update to address one state’s specific prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) requirements, it’s likely that soon after, another state will introduce its own legislation.

An additional level of complexity stems from the evolution of value-based payment models, the complex reporting needs of CMS’ Quality Payment Program, and the need to track data for the new Promoting Interoperability program. It makes you wonder how EHR vendors have the bandwidth to dedicate any resources to innovation in other areas.

An impactful option for outsourcing
Of all the functionalities of an EHR, electronic prescribing stands out for its central importance in the workflow, and for the time and money it consumes to keep current with regulations and other requirements.

E-prescribing is an ideal candidate for outsourcing for several reasons:

• The process flow, content, transactions, and even the look and feel, to a large degree, have been standardized by the Surescripts certification process. Seldom, if ever, are these features a competitive advantage for an EHR.

• Pharmacy-related functions tend to be highly regulated to prevent diversion and abuse, and subject to trading partner requirements to ensure minimal friction in the process. This leads to continual, incremental development cycles to visit the code repeatedly. Over time, the e-prescribing modules tend to get worse, not better, as a result of these frequent changes.

• EHR vendors seldom have time to add sophisticated new features to e-prescribing, but vendors who specialize in e-prescribing do.

• In the e-prescribing space, there are award-winning vendors with a stronger set of capabilities, the ability to invest in regulatory and industry compliance, and the opportunity to spread their costs over a broad set of clients.

Hundreds of vendors have already decided to outsource e-prescribing. They are seeing benefits in three major areas.

More resources dedicated to innovation. When e-prescribing elements are outsourced, EHR vendors can focus their development teams on innovations that bolster their competitive advantage. In the highly competitive and saturated EHR market, innovation is the key to long term success, let alone survival. Rather than divert human and financial resources to satisfy the latest regulatory requirements, vendors can dedicate resources toward strategic initiatives to maintain and grow market share. They can invest in what makes them different versus what makes them the same.

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