Surescripts Faces U.S. Antitrust Lawsuit Over Its E-Prescription Monopoly

In many ways, e-prescriptions have been one of the most popular and efficient tools available in the e-health toolkit. After a physician visit (live or virtual), a patient's prescriptions can be electronically transmitted to the patient's pharmacy of choice.There is only one problem with this type of e-transaction as was highlighted in an article five years ago.Surescripts, the provider of most of such e-prescription services, holds a monopoly in this market (see:The Medical Monopoly You ’ve Never Heard of). Here's a quote from March, 2014, claiming that fact:...Surescripts, a consortium consisting of national pharmacy chains, independent pharmacies, and the big “pharmacy benefit managers” (groups like Express Scripts or Caremark) [dominates the e-prescription market]. Last year, the Surescripts network surpassed the 50% mark: half of all prescriptions are now generated electronically. It ’s a big number: Surescripts reports handling 6 billion electronic transactions a year. Imagine Coke and Pepsi uniting with artisanal/local cola makers to create a single distribution and delivery system nationwide, in which they ’d share proportionally in the costs and the utilization. Seems inconceivable. Yet it’s exactly what’s happened in the retail drug industry.Five years later, there may be a day of reckoning in the future for Surescripts. The FTC has filed an antitrust suit against the company, accusing it of using illegal means to maintain monopolies over t...
Source: Lab Soft News - Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Cost of Healthcare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Healthcare Business Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Medical Consumerism Medical Ethics Medicolegal Issues Pharmaceutical Industry Source Type: blogs