Retail Pharmacies and Largest Pharmacy Benefit Managers Announce Merger of E-Prescribing Networks -- Improving Safety, Accuracy, Efficiency of Prescription Medicines for Patients Nationwide

In the single most significant advance to the accuracy, efficiency and quality of information associated with the 4 billion prescriptions written annually in the United States, the nation's retail pharmacies and leading pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) today announced an unprecedented collaboration to unite the country's two leading health information networks.

The groups have merged two organizations: RxHub, founded in 2001 by the nation's three largest PBMs -- CVS Caremark Corporation, Express Scripts, Inc. and Medco Health Solutions, Inc.; and SureScripts , also formed in 2001 by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) and the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA). The organizations will consolidate their operations, forming a single, secure, nationwide network for e-prescriptions and the exchange of health information.

RxHub's expertise in patient identification and delivering drug benefit information to the physician at the point of care complements SureScripts ' focus on electronic prescription routing from the physician's office to the pharmacy. The merger combines these strengths with a shared focus on more access to patient medication history to form a single suite of comprehensive services. The new organization will enable physicians to securely access vital health information when caring for their patients through a fast and efficient health information exchange. This will allow them to transmit electronic prescriptions and renewal requests to both retail and mail-order pharmacies.

In 2008, the combined organization expects to transmit 100 million electronic prescription transactions and respond to more than 70 million requests by physicians confirming information about their patients' drug coverages and medication histories. With appropriate patient consent, the combined organization will extend this information to clinicians caring for more than 200 million patients across the United States.

Easy, Efficient, Accurate, Safe and Secure

With this information more readily available, the process of prescribing medications is measurably improved by:

--  providing physicians with added knowledge of their patients;
--  enabling a more informed choice of therapy;
--  ensuring that the medicine intended by the physician is actually and
    accurately communicated to the pharmacy;
--  allowing patients to weigh important economic considerations within a
    range of appropriate clinical options before a prescription is written; and
--  adding convenience to the overall process.
    

"I can think of 4 billion reasons this merger makes sense," said John Driscoll, president, New Markets, Medco Health Solutions, Inc. "Prescribing medications for patients is one of the most fundamental acts in healthcare. If we, as an industry and as a nation, are serious about improving the quality of care and making it more cost-effective, then immediate and sweeping measures are required. This merger sets aside historic economic and political differences to do what is necessary to advance paperless prescribing and the secure exchange of critical information between providers -- instantly elevating the quality of care."

"This merger represents a collaboration between industries that are equally committed to improving healthcare," said Bruce Roberts, executive vice president and CEO, NCPA. "The combined strengths of the two organizations will enable the delivery of a single suite of services that will dramatically improve the safety, efficiency and quality of one of the largest segments in healthcare. We remain committed to maintaining the guiding principles that have driven the success of SureScripts and RxHub to date. We will continue to protect patient choice of pharmacy and physician choice of therapy."

Today, there are hundreds of technology vendors developing electronic medical records -- as well as other clinical software that includes e-prescribing functionality -- used by physician practices across the United States. For these vendors, the merger of RxHub and SureScripts will offer a single, unified process for testing and certifying their products' connection to a single network and the services it provides. Streamlining these processes will save the industry time and money and will offer physicians more of the information they need to provide quality care to their patients.

The new organization will remain committed to proactively supporting the standards that have been defined for electronic prescribing and health information exchange and will continue to collaborate with leading standards and accrediting organizations.

Merger Details

The boards of directors of both organizations approved the cashless merger of equals. SureScripts' owners (NACDS and NCPA) will retain 50 percent ownership as will RxHub's owners (CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and Medco Health Solutions). The new organization will remain privately owned and continue to operate under a cost-recovery model as a low-cost health information utility.