Innovative Subscription Solution Designed to Make Timely, Accurate and Comprehensive Prescriber Information Available on Demand to Health Care Payers and Pharmacies
SCOTTSDALE, Arizona, and EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn., May 7, 2007 — Ingenix, a leading health information technology company, announced today that it is partnering with The National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) to expand the scope of content and accessibility of NCPDP’s proprietary HCIdeaTM database.
The new HCIdeaTM Prescriber Online Lookup tool scheduled for release in June, www.HCIdeaLookUp.org, is expected to help commercial and government health care payers, large chain pharmacies and independent pharmacists access the most timely, accurate and comprehensive prescriber data available. Enhanced access to this data is expected to help decrease manual processes associated with identifying prescribers, streamline prescription processing and fight health care fraud and abuse.
“NCPDP is investing in the data, technology and expertise to take HCIdeaTM to the next level,” said Cathy Graeff, senior vice president of NCPDP. “The need for authoritative prescriber information has become greater than ever as health care industry stakeholders strive to implement the National Provider Identifier (NPI), while controlling administrative costs and minimizing operational disruptions.”
The HCIdeaTM Prescriber Online Lookup tool will offer robust content, including Ingenix provider data that is among the most complete and most thoroughly audited information available. Ingenix compiles data from over 600 industry sources, and then evaluates each element through unique verification and consensus modeling programs, in addition to phone verification. These processes provide accuracy benchmarks for every provider in the data set. When the NPI is made available by the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES), the data also will include a crosswalk connecting NPIs to legacy prescriber identifiers such as unique provider identification number (UPIN), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) numbers and state license numbers.
In addition to richer content, the Prescriber Lookup Online version of HCIdeaTM is expected to broaden stakeholder access and enhance usability. Independent pharmacists and smaller health care organizations who may not have need for the relational database license will be able to subscribe and pay for online lookup use.
“With this update to HCIdeaTM, large commercial and government health care payers, from national health insurers to the Department of Defense will benefit from enhanced access to prescriber data that is more inclusive and up-to-the-minute than ever before,” said David Ostler, executive vice president of Ingenix. “Meanwhile, other stakeholders like independent pharmacists may be able to take advantage of this essential resource for the first time with the introduction of subscription access and an optimized online user interface.”
Ostler continued, “NCPDP is a leading standards development organization with three decades of experience working with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and key health care industry stakeholders. Ingenix is fortunate to work with NCPDP in designing, hosting and managing the next generation of a fundamental industry reference like HCIdeaTM.”
About Ingenix
Ingenix, a wholly-owned subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), transforms organizations and improves health care through information and technology. Organizations rely on its innovative products, services and consulting to improve the delivery and operations of their business. More information about Ingenix can be obtained at http://www.ingenix.com.
About NCPDP
NCPDP is a not-for-profit, ANSI-accredited standards development organization with over 1,500 members representing virtually every sector of the pharmacy services industry. NCPDP members improve communication and interoperability within the pharmacy industry by creating and maintaining national standards such as the HIPAA-named NCPDP Telecommunication Standard and Batch Standard, the SCRIPT Standard for e-Prescribing, the Manufacturers Rebate Standard and others. NCPDP’s Database Services Group maintains the NCPDP Pharmacy Database, the authority on the nation’s pharmacies and HCIdea™, “The Prescriber Identity Solution.” For more information about NCPDP databases, standards development and educational programs, visit http://www.ncpdp.org. |
