Comments on: Surescripts agrees to modify NDA to be compatible with Open Source licences http://www.fredtrotter.com/2009/09/25/surescripts-will-modify-nda/ Hacktivist, coding for social change Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:14:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: ftrotter http://www.fredtrotter.com/2009/09/25/surescripts-will-modify-nda/comment-page-1/#comment-5504 ftrotter Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:51:03 +0000 http://www.fredtrotter.com/?p=356#comment-5504 There were two large e-prescribing networks, RxHub and Surescripts. They merged. The resulting combination has practically exclusive relationships with so many pharmacies, that a competitor is really a non-starter. From the pharmacies perspective it makes sense to have a single-network integration, less work for them. I have not tried yet, but if would be interesting to see if you went to a local chain pharmacy, and asked them to accept e-prescriptions from your EHR. I would bet that after navigating the bureaucracy, you would find someone who would authoritatively tell you that you had to work with surescripts and that it was your only option. There are other natural "network" monopolies, like Google and Twitter, that have done a pretty good job of demonstrating that they are Open Source friendly. It looks like Surescripts is going down that path too and this should be applauded despite their monopoly status. There were two large e-prescribing networks, RxHub and Surescripts. They merged. The resulting combination has practically exclusive relationships with so many pharmacies, that a competitor is really a non-starter.
From the pharmacies perspective it makes sense to have a single-network integration, less work for them.

I have not tried yet, but if would be interesting to see if you went to a local chain pharmacy, and asked them to accept e-prescriptions from your EHR. I would bet that after navigating the bureaucracy, you would find someone who would authoritatively tell you that you had to work with surescripts and that it was your only option.

There are other natural “network” monopolies, like Google and Twitter, that have done a pretty good job of demonstrating that they are Open Source friendly. It looks like Surescripts is going down that path too and this should be applauded despite their monopoly status.

]]> By: Delton http://www.fredtrotter.com/2009/09/25/surescripts-will-modify-nda/comment-page-1/#comment-5502 Delton Mon, 28 Sep 2009 02:10:31 +0000 http://www.fredtrotter.com/?p=356#comment-5502 Is there a reason why SureScripts has this "monopoly" on EPrescriptions? Is there a reason why SureScripts has this “monopoly” on EPrescriptions?

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