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Mon, Oct 13, 2008 - 03:12 PM EDT — AAPL: 105.18 (+8.38, +8.66%) | NASDAQ: 1776.29 (+126.78, +7.69%)

DrFirst creates E-Prescribing solution for Apple iPhone

Friday, December 14, 2007 - 12:30 PM EDT

DrFirst, the leader in electronic prescribing and medication reconciliation services, today announced that physicians will have access to an unparalleled e-prescribing experience on the Apple iPhone through DrFirst's Rcopia e-prescribing system. For the first time, physicians and their staff will be able to perform all of the essential functions of electronic prescribing in real-time on a Mobile browser through a WiFi or wireless carrier's broadband connection.

RcopiaMini is formatted for the smaller screen of today's mobile devices and allows providers to easily navigate a full-featured version of Rcopia on this exciting new platform. DrFirst designed the application to provide a real-time interaction between physicians, pharmacies, and health plans, so there is no need to update or sync the device.

"Now physicians can quickly, safely, and securely prescribe from anywhere - through the always-on connectivity of the iPhone, the WiFi connection of the iPod Touch, or while seated at the desktop computer in the practice," said Peter N. Kaufman, Chief Medical Officer of DrFirst, Inc., in the press release. "DrFirst's goal is to ensure that its new web-based, mobile Rcopia experience delivers the same high levels of innovation and usability as the original Web version."

E-prescribing on the iPhone with RcopiaMini allows physicians to provide a higher level of patient service and safety, streamline practice workflows, and save time and money through the efficiency of electronic medication orders, renewals and formulary checking. New prescriptions and renewals are sent electronically to the patient's retail or mail order pharmacy. RcopiaMini checks for patient insurance eligibility, formulary, and patient medication history. The application also offers clinical decision support tools to check prescriptions for drug-drug and drug-allergy interactions and appropriate dosing.

Busy doctors, large practices, and health systems require software that is adaptable to the practice workflow and that draws the practice staff into the prescribing process. To meet this need, RcopiaMini is designed to be accessible to all staff members, to be highly configurable and to accommodate workflow features that make it a perfect solution for groups of any size.

RcopiaMini is now available at no charge to current Rcopia users and can be accessed at http://www.drfirst.com/pda/

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Dec 14, 07 - 01:37 pm Comment from: Ampar

So, if you want real world solutions for the iPhone, you have to be patient.

Dec 14, 07 - 02:06 pm Comment from: CandTsmac

Ampar...

Nice one. I notice quite a few items like this coming out for iPhone. Slowly but surely the flood gates are opening.

Dec 14, 07 - 02:07 pm Comment from: macaholic

sounds like a good app for a tablet PC. Oh wait, the iPhone pretty much is one. without that pesky XP or Vista gumming up the works

Dec 14, 07 - 02:37 pm Comment from: Cubert

More PDA-like functions on the iPhone would REALLY open the flood gates.

Dec 14, 07 - 02:38 pm Comment from: ron

"So, if you want real world solutions for the iPhone, you have to be 'a' patient."

Dec 14, 07 - 02:47 pm Comment from: Ampar

ron:

Um, thanks buddy. You're abig help.

Dec 14, 07 - 02:48 pm Comment from: Ampar

That should be:

a big

Oh well.

Dec 14, 07 - 02:51 pm Comment from: Dr. X

This announcement might sound pretty boring. But it's boring announcements like this that shows just how pervasive the iPhone is and will be. It's proof, unlike that Forrester Research FUD report from yesterday, that the iPhone is rapidly penetrating a number of industries. Healthcare and pharmacy are two enormous industries. And a change is taking hold that will transform healthcare, and wtih it, the fortunes of the iPhone. Allow me to explain.

There are nearly four million doctors across the US alone. And countless numbers of pharmacies. Traditionally, your doctor would have to hand write a prescription you would then give to your pharmacist. The pharmacist would have to try to interpret what the hell the doctor wrote in their terrible handwriting. As a result, all kinds of bad things can happen. Plus, there is the little matter of healthcare fraud, false prescriptions, and who knows what else. That costs you and me a ton of money in higher health insurance costs.

But there is a change taking place. The healthcare, pharmaceutical and retail pharmacy industries are slowly adopting something called E-Prescriptions. Instead of things taking place with paper, it's all being replaced by an electronic transaction stream. A doctor's office enters a prescription electronically, and it gets forwarded to the health insurer for verification and approval, or through a pharmacy benefits management company that does this on behalf of a health insurer. Once approved and verified, the prescription then goes to the pharmacy, where it shows up on the screen of the pharmacist. It's faster, more accurate, could dramatically reduce healthcare fraud and also save lives.

So where does the iPhone fit into this? Instead of having to wait for a doctor to get to his or her office to key in the prescription, the doctor can do it on the spot with their iPhone. It could be crucial because a prescription might mean life or death in some cases.

It means a doctor can be at dinner with their spouse, get a call on their iPhone from an Emergency Room, and on the spot, submit a prescription from their iPhone to help the patient. For that matter, it's possible today for a doctor like a neurologist to be on the golf course, to get a call from an ER about a patient who suffered critical head injuries and needs an expert opinion right now. With an iPhone, the doctor can look at electronically transmitted MRI scans on their screen, make an assessment on treatment and direct the staff on what to do next, all while putting out.

So yes, this announcement is boring. But it is also dramatic. The iPhone can make you happy listening to music or downloading some dumb YouTube video. But as noted, it can also save lives.

Now THAT'S pretty damned cool. Thanks, Apple.

Dec 14, 07 - 02:58 pm Comment from: TowerTone

This will be a hard pill to swallow for the prescription pad publishers....

Dec 14, 07 - 03:33 pm Comment from: therepguy

Who said the iPhone wasn't going to turn into a work product for big business...

This one is going to be big... and no hospital IT department is going to be able to say no to those doctors for long!

Dec 14, 07 - 06:58 pm Comment from: narco traficante

Si - de iPhone is berry berry good way for me to run my bidness

es secure, reliable, and keep up wit inventory and destribution

glad meeny odders in drug bidness see value of iPhone

May 19, 08 - 01:31 am Comment from: Eriacta

waao! real cool invention.

Eriacta

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Mon, Oct 13, 2008 - 03:12 PM EDT — AAPL: 105.18 (+8.38, +8.66%) | NASDAQ: 1776.29 (+126.78, +7.69%)

DrFirst creates E-Prescribing solution for Apple iPhone

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