Initiative to offer free e-prescribing

A coalition of 11 technology companies and healthcare organizations said it will offer free electronic prescribing to physicians through a Web site, nationaleRx.com. The service will be running in about 30 days, officials said. The coalition, known as the National ePrescribing Patient Safety Initiative, includes Aetna, Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Dell, Google, Microsoft Corp., WellPoint and others. The coalition said its members would invest $100 million in the service over the next five years. Health plans participating in the initiative will offer physicians a range of incentives to use e-prescribing, according to an Allscripts news release. At a news conference, Glen Tullman, Allscripts’ chairman and chief executive officer, said the project might spur other companies to also offer their e-prescribing products for free. Read the news release. -- by Jennifer Lubell