CVS Health and Epic Announce Initiative to Help Lower Drug Costs for Patients by Providing Prescribers with Expanded Visibility to Lower Cost Alternatives

Collaboration will leverage enhanced analytics and data sharing to improve integration across the health care system

Strategic initiative will help improve care team access to lower cost options to improve adherence while enhancing ePrior Authorization process

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CVS Health

Oct 16, 2017, 08:30 ET

WOONSOCKET, R.I., Oct. 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) and Epic today announced a strategic initiative to help lower drug costs for patients and improve outcomes by providing prescribers with expanded visibility to lower cost alternatives through enhanced analytics and data sharing. CVS Health will use Epic's Healthy Planet population health and analytics platform to generate insights surrounding dispensing patterns and behaviors around medication adherence.

The collaboration will bolster prescription decision-making for patients and their care teams, including physicians, pharmacists and health insurers. Real-time benefit information and facilitated, point-of-prescribing electronic prior authorization will help improve and simplify patient access to necessary medications and ensure their prescribers are aware of prescription insurance formulary status and less expensive alternatives as appropriate.

"This collaboration with Epic will enable us to continue to drive leading edge technology innovation beyond the pharmacy to the full health care system," said Stephen Gold, Chief Information Officer, CVS Health. "Together, our two companies will also examine opportunities to streamline and improve data sharing and linkages across the health care system to enhance communication and connectivity among patients, their physicians, the pharmacy and health insurers."

"At CVS Health we recognize that EHRs offer health care providers easier and more comprehensive access to their patients' information than ever before," said Troyen A. Brennan, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, CVS Health. "This new relationship will help us further expand how we work with Epic and providers on their EHR system to develop meaningful tools and programs that will ultimately help us take even better care of the patients we support."

CVS Health currently works with Epic, the most widely used EHR, to support the company's MinuteClinic nurse practitioners and CVS Specialty's care management programs.

Through this new strategic relationship CVS Health and Epic will explore a number of new areas including:

Prescription Drug Savings: Collaboration around real-time benefit information and facilitated, point-of-prescribing electronic prior authorization to help inform patients and prescribers in real time about covered drugs that are clinically effective and available at the lowest out-of-pocket cost for the patient;
Improved Prescribing Decisions: Development of a comprehensive clinical database to enhance medication counseling and help optimize medication selection for CVS Health patients;
Shared Care Plan for Pharmacists: Improve pharmacist access to clinical information and allow contribution to the care plan to improve continuity of care;
Digital Front Store Capabilities: Creation of a digital front store to enable inclusion of purchases of over-the-counter medications and durable medical equipment into the patient's electronic health record.

"CVS Health is one of the leaders in using data to dissolve domain silos, while offering new sources of intelligence and expertise that can better inform care delivery, reduce administrative overhead, and lower costs for patients," said Alan Hutchison, Epic Vice President of Population Health.

"Working in collaboration with CVS Health allows for enhanced and efficient data integration and decision support for clinicians while relieving administrative burden," said Gregory Rosencrance, M.D., chairman of Cleveland Clinic Medicine Institute. "These promising advances put the patient at the center of care while improving the cost and quality of care they receive." CVS Health is a member of Cleveland Clinic's clinically integrated network and Quality Alliance.

About CVS Health
CVS Health is a pharmacy innovation company helping people on their path to better health. Through its 9,700 retail locations, more than 1,100 walk-in medical clinics, a leading pharmacy benefits manager with nearly 90 million plan members, a dedicated senior pharmacy care business serving more than one million patients per year, expanding specialty pharmacy services, and a leading stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug plan, the company enables people, businesses and communities to manage health in more affordable and effective ways. This unique integrated model increases access to quality care, delivers better health outcomes and lowers overall health care costs. Find more information about how CVS Health is shaping the future of health at https://www.cvshealth.com.