N.J. e-prescribing pilot from Aetna shows increase in use of generics

Aetna recently conducted an e-prescribing pilot on New Jersey that resulted in a 5% to 7% increase in the use of generic and formulary drugs. The pilot, which was conducted with Zix Corp., began on July 5, 2005, and provided 1,000 handheld devices and Zix Corp.'s PocketScript service to its network providers in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. The pilot also showed that e-prescribing resulted in the following: a greater ability to provide access to timely information, such as formulary and generic drug choices, which assists in lowering members' out-of-pocket costs; an improvement in formulary compliance of 5% and an improvement in generic drug prescribing of 7%; and access to information to help facilitate drug safety checks, such as drug-drug interactions, at the time the new drug is being prescribed.

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