Aetna, Zix announce three-year e-prescribing partnership

NEW YORK Aetna and Zix Corporation have announced a three-year electronic prescribing agreement for northern New Jersey.

Under the agreement, certain primary care physicians in northern New Jersey will be eligible to receive, at no charge, an e-prescribing device and associated connectivity services.

The contract follows and existing and successful relationship between ZixCorp and Aetna that began with an e-prescribing pilot program in New Jersey and 2005, followed by New York and Connecticut in 2007.

More than 1,000 physicians are eligible for participation, and Aetna estimates that 40,000 of its members could benefit from the program.

“E-prescribing allows us to provide doctors with access to timely information, allowing real-time decision support to occur at the point of care, such as formulary information and potential adverse drug interactions that ultimately help doctors lower a member’s out-of-pocket costs and promote patient safety,” Aetna medical director for northern New Jersey Thomas Howe said.