News in brief - Aug. 18, 2003

Tufts steps up e-prescribing - Tenet names new leader - Tech spending increase predicted - RelayHealth secures venture capital

Tufts steps up e-prescribing

After testing electronic prescribing technology and seeing a payoff, Tufts Health Plan is rolling out the technology to its 18,000-doctor network. Starting this month, the Waltham, Mass.-based health plan and three technology partners will offer free or discounted BlackBerry wireless devices to affiliated physicians.

Tufts initially will target 5,000 physicians who collectively write 75% of all prescriptions for the 830,000 people enrolled in its health plans. These physicians will get free devices while the remaining 13,000 doctors who aren't "high prescribers" will have to buy the devices if they want to prescribe wirelessly, said Deborah Whitehead, Tufts' vice president of pharmacy services.

Physicians who sign up will be able to access prescription histories, see drug interaction alerts and look up drug information at the point of care, she said. They also will be able to wirelessly fax prescriptions to their patients' pharmacies.

The health plan decided to adopt e-prescribing because its test of a handheld-based electronic prescribing system last year showed that the technology improved patient safety and reduced hassles for physicians and pharmacists. The technology also influenced physicians to prescribe preferred drugs over nonpreferred brand drugs, Whitehead said.

Tufts estimates that it can save $3 million to $4 million annually in pharmaceutical costs.

Tenet names new leader

An independent director of Tenet Healthcare Corp. is taking a new leadership role with the troubled hospital chain as it tries to recover from a series of financial and legal woes. Edward A. Kangas, who joined the company's board in April, has been named Tenet's new nonexecutive chair. He takes over the role previously held by Jeffrey Barbakow, who stepped down under pressure in May. Kangas, 59, was chair and chief executive officer of the accounting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu from 1989 to 2000.

Tech spending increase predicted

Health care technology spending will rise 15% over the next five years, according to a recent report by International Data Corp., a Framingham, Mass., market research company. Efforts to improve patient safety and comply with HIPAA regulations will lead physicians, hospitals and health systems to spend $17.3 billion on information technology in 2007, up from $15.1 billion in 2002, the report predicted.

RelayHealth secures venture capital

RelayHealth Corp. has raised $6.3 million from private venture capital investors. The Emeryville, Calif., seller of secure messaging and online consultation technologies will use the money to fund operations and product development.