Varian Medical Systems announced that its ARIA® for radiation oncology information system has been awarded Surescripts® e-prescribing certification for new prescriptions and refill requests. This allows physicians using the ARIA system to manage radiation therapy treatments are now able to exchange prescriptions electronically with pharmacies connected to the Surescripts network.
Ken Hotz, PhD, Varian's product manager for oncology information systems, explained: "E-Prescribing allows the clinician to create a prescription and route it electronically to any pharmacy in the extensive Surescripts network. With certification to connect to the Surescripts network, ARIA can now offer radiation oncologists an e-prescribing process with the potential to reduce costs and improve practice efficiency and patient convenience."
By using ARIA, doctors will be able to send new prescriptions directly to a computer at a participating pharmacy. In addition, Pharmacy personnel will be able to send renewal authorization requests directly to the clinic electronically, where prescribers can review the requests and respond with a few keystrokes. "This certification is among the U.S. government-mandated criteria for demonstrating Stage 1 'meaningful use' of an electronic health record and thereby qualifying for federal funding under the HITECH Act. This is an important step in the right direction. Varian just recently received ARRA/HITECH certification for its ARIA medical oncology software, and will submit the ARIA radiation oncology product for the same certification in summer of this year," added Ken Hotz.
The ARIA oncology information system is a comprehensive software solution that supports the oncology clinic. It combines an oncology-specific patient electronic medical record (EMR) with functional components for managing clinical, administrative and financial operations. ARIA is currently available at 2500 treatment centers around the world. It has been rated among the top three oncology IT solutions annually since 2008, and was ranked the first in 2008 and 2009 by KLAS, an independent research firm that evaluates the performance of healthcare vendors.
Dow Wilson, president of Varian's Oncology Systems business, said: "Quality information is essential to the assessment and improvement of cancer treatment delivery. This development is part of Varian's ongoing commitment to offering cancer centers the best comprehensive management tools available across the entire spectrum of solutions needed to operate a modern, multidisciplinary cancer treatment program."
About Varian Medical Systems:
Varian Medical Systems, Inc., of Palo Alto, California, is a leading developer of medical devices and software for treating cancer and other medical conditions with radiotherapy, radiosurgery, and brachytherapy. The company provides informatics software for managing comprehensive cancer clinics, radiotherapy centers and medical oncology practices. Varian is a premier supplier of tubes and digital detectors for X-ray imaging in medical, scientific, and industrial applications and also supplies X-ray imaging products for cargo screening and industrial inspection.
About Surescripts:
Surescripts has developed in 2008 as a result of collaboration between the country's two leading health information networks: RxHub and SureScripts. Surescripts offers healthcare providers secure electronic access to prescription information that can improve efficiency and reduce the cost of healthcare. Being available during emergencies or routine care, the Surescripts network is used daily by thousands of physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners and other prescribers across all states. The Surescripts network connects these prescribers to all of the nation's major chain pharmacies, the nation's leading payers and independent pharmacies nationwide.
