Ohio Pharmacy Board approves GE Healthcare's Advanced ePrescribing solution

Marking another significant milestone for GE Healthcare's information technology business, the Ohio Pharmacy Board has approved the company's advanced ePrescribing solution for use by the state's physicians. Ohio is the only state today requiring two-factor authentication.

“The work we've done to meet the standards in Ohio leapfrogs the industry with an authentication method that can help physicians transition more fully to electronic prescribing now, while preparing for the emergence of stricter standards”

Working alongside and benefiting from the efforts of OhioHealth, one of the largest not-for-profit health systems in the nation, GE met Ohio's stringent ePrescribing requirements by successfully integrating high-tech biometrics into its Advanced ePrescribing solution for Centricity® Electronic Medical Record (EMR). An external fingerprint scanner helps prevent forgery by requiring the physician to identify him or herself at the point of ordering a patient's prescription. This step provides the extra layer of authentication and documentation required by Ohio pharmacy law. The solution is live today at OhioHealth and is currently used by more than 200 prescribing physicians at 15 clinic sites across the state.

"GE Healthcare met Ohio's rigorous standards for electronic prescribing with a solution that focuses on easing our physician's workflow," said Mrunal Shah, MD, Vice President, Physician Technology Services, OhioHealth Information Services. "By fully integrating the fingerprint scanner with the EMR, GE Healthcare's method of addressing the two-factor authentication requirements verifies the physician's identity instantaneously, and creates a paperless audit trail which helps maintain a more complete record of patient care. OhioHealth is the first organization in the country to meet the rigorous Ohio Board of Pharmacy requirements with Centricity EMR's Advanced ePrescribing biometric solution, and we're pleased to have worked closely with GE Healthcare to make this achievement possible."

"Security is a top concern for us as we develop all of our EMR solutions," said Jim Corrigan, vice president and general manager of GE Healthcare IT. "We were pleased to work with OhioHealth and the Ohio Board of Health in a collaborative effort to establish this two-factor authentication method, which not only meets existing standards but can pave the way for physicians in Ohio and other states to fully-adopt electronic prescribing for all medication classes. The biometric solution we have developed for our Ohio customers is ready today to address the enhanced security we expect to become increasingly important as ePrescribing regulations evolve."

Corrigan refers to a federal regulation that went into effect on June 1, 2010, aimed at enabling secure electronic prescribing of Schedule II-V Controlled Substances. The federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) regulation enables the transition from paper to electronic prescriptions for these substances only after creating a "closed system of controls." The two-factor authentication solution now in use with Centricity EMR's Advanced ePrescribing solution in Ohio, utilizing biometrics, is a method that could allow physicians to achieve this closed system and may allow customers to prepare today to meet the enhanced security requirements of the legislation.

"The work we've done to meet the standards in Ohio leapfrogs the industry with an authentication method that can help physicians transition more fully to electronic prescribing now, while preparing for the emergence of stricter standards," said Corrigan. "It's another example of the collaborative approach that has allowed us to support customer success for over 40 years. We're listening to our customers and meeting the needs they have today, while developing smart, simple solutions that anticipate what they might need tomorrow."