Surescripts is expected to begin mailing rebate checks within the next two weeks to independent community pharmacies on its e-prescribing network. The rebates are calculated at 3-cents per billable transaction between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2014. Surescripts also has announced that it will offer a similar rebate program for 2015 transactions, payable early in 2016.

That is very good news.

When NCPA and NACDS started Surescripts in 2001, we knew electronic prescribing was going to be important for community pharmacy. Just as importantly, we knew that if community pharmacy was not in the e-prescribing game, someone else would control it. Back then, a company formed by the PBMs had emerged as the entity that would dominate the flow of information between prescriber and pharmacy, which made the Surescripts initiative all the more important.

E-prescribing took off when the federal government began offering Medicare and HITECH e-prescribing incentives, and its upward trend has continued ever since. And as economies of scale kicked in, electronic prescribing transaction fees have been reduced several times in recent years—and now there are cash rebates coming your way. If you have questions about your rebate after you receive it, please contact Surescripts at 703-921-2010 or 2014Rebate@surescripts.com.  (Any pharmacy that accrues less than $25 in one year will not be eligible for a rebate payment.)

Surescripts has just scratched the surface of helping to make sure community pharmacy is relevant in a technologically connected health care system. The ability for pharmacies to be part of a bigger, interoperable health care system relies on technology. Surescripts has increased its capabilities to enable the exchange of clinical information between pharmacies and physician offices. The traditional fee-for-service Medicare payment model is being transitioned to one based on quality or value through alternative payment models such as accountable care organizations (ACOs) or bundled payment arrangements. (See Executive Update for Jan. 30, 2015.)

The long-anticipated pay-for-performance model is coming to your pharmacy at a fast pace, and the exchange of information between physicians and pharmacies that Surescripts facilitates won't be just about prescriptions. Its services will be a key to enabling community pharmacy to be well positioned as part of the next evolution of health care.