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U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow - Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 04, 2008

Contact: Press Office
Phone: 202-224-4822
Stabenow Announces Michigan in the Top 5 for Electronic Prescriptions
 
                         Michigan Recognized with SafeRx Award for National Leadership

WASHINGTON —U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) today announced that the state of Michigan has finished as the #5 state in the nation using e-prescribing last year and has been recognized with the Safe Rx Award. Over the past three years, Michigan has climbed from #10 to #6 to #5 in the country. Electronic prescribing, or “e-prescribing,” is widely acknowledged as a means of enhancing patient safety, decreasing the amount of preventable adverse drug events that put lives at risk, while cutting health care costs. In Michigan, there are nearly 2,500 physician participants writing more than 282,000 electronic scripts each month.

"Study after study shows that e-prescribing saves dollars and more importantly saves lives,” said Stabenow. “Michigan businesses, doctors and pharmacies have been at the forefront of implementing e-prescribing, and I am proud that Michigan's success will serve as a model for national success."

In February 2005, General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and Chrysler LLC worked with Medco and Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan on the employer-driven Southeast Michigan E-Prescribing Initiative (SEMI) to promote and expand e-prescribing technology throughout Michigan. Since SEMI’s launch, nearly 6.2 million prescriptions were written electronically and have led to nearly 423,000 changes or cancellations to potential incorrect drug prescriptions. Other SEMI partners include the United Auto Workers (UAW), Health Alliance Plan, Henry Ford Medical Group, CVS Caremark Corporation, RxHub, LLC and SureScripts(R).

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS), the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), and SureScripts® created the Safe-Rx Awards to raise awareness of e-prescribing as a more secure, accurate and informed means of prescribing patients’ medication. The award is given annually by the nation’s community pharmacies to the top 10 e-prescribing states in the nation. States are ranked according to the number of prescriptions routed electronically in 2007 as a percentage of the total number of prescriptions eligible for electronic routing.