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Surescripts
Kevin Hutchinson's Departure Follows Most Successful Year of Growth for E-Prescribing;
SureScripts Executive Rick Ratliff to Serve as Acting CEO
Alexandria , VA - December 18, 2007 - SureScripts today announced that President and CEO Kevin Hutchinson plans to leave the company at the end of January 2008.
Hutchinson joined SureScripts in August 2002, where he has led the effort to build a neutral nationwide network for electronic prescribing and health information exchange. Under his watch, the Pharmacy Health Information Exchange has gone from concept to blueprint to launch to its position today, where it is widely regarded as being the most successful network for electronic prescribing and pharmacy interoperability in the nation. In 2007, more than 35,000 prescribers electronically connected to more than 40,000 community pharmacies and generated more than 35 million electronic prescription transactions. In 2008, e-prescription transaction volume will nearly triple.
"Kevin's vision and leadership have set in motion a monumental change in one of healthcare's most fundamental processes," said John Glaser, vice president and chief information officer at Partners HealthCare and a member of the SureScripts board of directors. "The efforts of Kevin and his team have laid the foundation for e-prescribing and health information exchange between physicians and pharmacists and have created an unprecedented opportunity to leave the inefficiencies and safety challenges of paper-based prescribing behind."
"Electronic prescribing would not be where it is today without Kevin's leadership over the past five-plus years," said Bruce Roberts, executive vice president and CEO of the National Community Pharmacists Association and cochairman of SureScripts. "SureScripts' efforts to enable independent pharmacies for electronic prescribing have helped ensure the continued and valuable role played by our member pharmacies in communities across the U.S."
"At the beginning, middle and end of each day, it's all about the patient," said Thomas M. Ryan, CEO and chairman of CVS Caremark. "Kevin and the SureScripts team have played a pivotal role in the profession of pharmacy's efforts to electronically link and bring together physicians, payers and pharmacists to better serve patients with safer and more cost efficient care."
Between now and his planned departure, Hutchinson will continue to strongly support recent efforts by Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt and Congress to incentivize physicians and pharmacies to adopt eprescribing technology into their practices. This includes support for Congress to include the E-MEDS Bill in the current Medicare package. He will continue to help drive the effort to change DEA regulations so they will allow the electronic transmission of prescriptions for controlled substances.
"Leading the team at SureScripts has been the most rewarding work of my career," said Hutchinson. "I want to thank the nation's community pharmacies for their unwavering support of SureScripts and their unprecedented crossindustry collaboration. I am proud to have been part of the company's efforts to drive and lead the industry toward adoption and utilization of electronic prescribing. I am leaving on the heels of a breakthrough year for e-prescribing, and while the wind is clearly at our backs, there remains much work to be done. E-prescribing must remain a national priority, and I am looking forward to an opportunity to continue to impact change in healthcare through the use of information technology."
SureScripts chief operating officer, Rick Ratliff, will serve as acting CEO.
"Rick has co-led this effort with me from the beginning and leads a strong management team that stands ready to guide SureScripts through its continued growth," said Hutchinson. "Thanks to the leadership and hard work of Rick and the entire SureScripts team, physicians, pharmacists and - most important - patients will benefit for years to come from a more safe, efficient and higher-quality prescribing process."
