Imprivata to Showcase Customer Success with E-prescribing for Opioids at HIMSS18

Imprivata helps organizations enable fast, secure, DEA-compliant EPCS to fight drug diversion, improve prescribing workflows, increase patient safety, and comply with increasing state-level EPCS mandates

Lexington, Mass. – February 21, 2018—Imprivata®, the healthcare IT security company, will showcase innovative technologies, customer success stories, and best practices for enabling electronic prescribing for controlled substances (EPCS) during the HIMSS18 Conference & Exhibition (March 5-9 in Las Vegas).

EPCS is a key advancement for helping healthcare delivery organizations curb opioid abuse while improving prescribing workflows for providers and patients. Imprivata offers solutions to ensure customers meet DEA requirements for EPCS, which is especially important given the increasing number of states that are exploring mandated e-prescribing to help address the opioid abuse epidemic.

More than 300 healthcare organizations rely on Imprivata Confirm ID™ to comply with EPCS requirements while ensuring a fast, efficient workflow for providers. Several of these customers – including Hartford HealthCare, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, Peninsula Regional Medical Center, and Geisinger Health System – will be on hand at HIMSS18 to share their success stories in the Imprivata booth (#2854). These organizations will demonstrate how Imprivata Confirm ID facilitates fast, secure signing for EPCS and enables an upstream deterrent to the illicit drug diversion and abuse that has fueled the nation’s opioid crisis.

“For us, the switch to EPCS was state mandated – but we were heading down that path anyway because of the opioid crisis,” said Dr. Spencer Erman, CMIO at Hartford HealthCare. “Our leadership and providers were motivated to make it happen because we want to do our part to help combat opioid and substance abuse – and this is one very big way we can help. Confirm ID made it easy for us to meet all the state requirements, while delivering a seamless EPCS workflow.”

In 2016 alone, an average of 116 people per day died from opioid-related drug overdoses, and 11.5 million people misused prescription opioids. From 2015 to 2016, the number of e-prescriptions for controlled substances rose by 256 percent – from 12.81 million to 45.3 million.

Against this backdrop, public officials and regulators are increasingly embracing EPCS as a way to ensure a more secure opioid distribution chain. This growing awareness of EPCS as an upstream solution has sparked fast-tracked legislation in the U.S. Congress and in state legislatures across the country requiring e-prescribing for opioids and other controlled substances.

In the U.S. Congress, Reps. Katherine Clark (D-MA) and Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) introduced HR 3528, The Every Prescription Conveyed Securely Act, which would require EPCS for patients in the Medicare Part D prescription drug program. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb endorsed the bill last week. Congress is also expected to pass a healthcare package addressing the opioid crisis this year. Meanwhile, seven state legislatures (NY, ME, RI, NC, VA, CT, and AZ) have already passed EPCS mandates, and 10 states have introduced EPCS mandates (OK, IN, TN, SC, MA, PA, NJ, IL, TX, and MI.).

“Momentum for EPCS is surging as communities nationwide struggle to contain the raging opioid epidemic, and HIMSS presents the ideal forum to examine successful strategies to combat this national crisis,” said Dr. Sean Kelly, Chief Medical Officer at Imprivata. “As an emergency physician, I see firsthand the physical and emotional toll that opioid abuse takes on patients and their families each day. We can create a more secure opioid distribution chain by requiring that prescriptions for controlled substances be completed electronically.”

Dr. Kelly was recently named to the CHIME Opioid Task Force, a group of national EPCS leaders promoting EPCS and other solutions for fighting the national opioid epidemic. The group will gather at HIMSS18 to lay out strategies for identifying and promoting the most effective tools for battling opioids.

For a demonstration of Imprivata Confirm ID for EPCS at HIMSS18, please visit Imprivata booth #2854.

About Imprivata

Imprivata®, the healthcare IT security company, provides healthcare organizations globally with a security and identity platform that delivers ubiquitous access, positive identity management, and multifactor authentication. Imprivata enables healthcare securely by establishing trust between people, technology, and information to address critical compliance and security challenges while improving productivity and the patient experience. For more information, please visit www.imprivata.com.