E-Prescribing Forum 2006

New Mexico's Health Quality Improvement Organization

E-Prescribing Forum: A Tremendous Success!
83 Individuals Attend; 90 Pilot Participants Recruited

Larry Pesko, NMPIC Chair, Lovelace Health Plan The New Mexico Prescription Improvement Coalition's (NMPIC's) E-Prescribing Forum was held on September 26 in Albuquerque, and this event drew health care providers, managed care organization representatives, hospital and health care administrators, product vendors and regional champions in health information technology to discuss e-prescribing in New Mexico.

Patricia L. Hale, MD, PhD, FACP, chief medical informatics officer for Glens Falls Hospital and chief technical officer for the Adirondack Regional Community Health Information Exchange, delivered the keynote address via teleconference. Dr. Hale provided an overview of national standards and pilots on e-prescribing. Click Click here to download her presentation.

E-prescribing Champion Panel: Kathy Finch, MD; Marcia Tarasenko, NM Heart Institute; Larry Georgopoulos, PharmD, Presbyterian Health Plan; John Seibel, MD, NMMRA; Doug Lohkamp, RPh, HIT Chair, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of NM; Jason Mitchell, MD, Presbyterian Medical Group Following the keynote address, a panel featuring local e-prescribing champions described their organizations' experiences with e-prescribing, and a model for e-prescribing for New Mexico was presented. To download presentations, click on links below:

Kathy Finch, MD, solo practitioner
Marcia Tarasenko, New Mexico Heart Institute
Larry Georgopoulos, PharmD, Presbyterian Health Plan
Doug Lohkamp, RPh, NMPIC HIT Workgroup chair, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of NM
Jason Mitchell, MD, Presbyterian Medical Group

Vendor panel representing McKesson, ZyxCorp, Cerner, AllScripts, DrFirst Participants saw demonstrations of several e-prescribing products; AllScripts, Cerner, DrFirst, McKesson and ZyxCorp representatives described their products' features.

A goal of this event was to recruit 15 to 20 physicians to participate in a state e-prescribing pilot. This goal was far exceeded, as 90 physicians have expressed interest in participating!

This forum was the first outreach event hosted by NMPIC's Health Information Technology (HIT) Workgroup (see photo below). NMPIC is facilitated by the New Mexico Medical Review Association (NMMRA) in support of Medicare's Part D initiatives regarding prescription drugs.

E-Prescribing Forum Planning Committee: John Seibel, MD, NMMRA; Dale Tinker, NM Pharmacists Association; Larry Georgopoulos, PharmD, Presbyterian Health Plan; Doug Lohkamp, HIT Chair, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of NM; Galina Priloutskaya, PhD, MBA, NMMRA; Steve Lucero, MD, NM Medical Society; Larry Pesko, Lovelace Health Plan Mel Carter, Merck, and Galina Priloutskaya, PhD, MBA, NMMRA