(Washington, DC)-The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) released the following statement today on several of the health care provisions contained in the final economic stimulus bill:

“This legislation is an important step forward to modernize and improve quality and safety in the health care system. 

“Our industry is committed to working with all stakeholders to ensure broad adoption of health information technology (HIT) so that patients and physicians have access to full and complete electronic medical records that include basic safety and savings tools like e-prescribing.  We are encouraged that the legislation specifically includes e-prescribing as an integral component of a fully-functional HIT system.

“In addition to the HIT provisions in the economic stimulus bill, PCMA supports the inclusion of comparative effectiveness research, which will improve clinical decision-making, enhance quality of care, and discourage wasteful spending.

“Moving forward, PCMA believes HIT systems should be interoperable and that privacy regulations should be constructed as to avoid inefficiencies, low provider adoption, and less patient access to life-saving technologies.”

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PCMA is the national association representing America’s pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which administer prescription drug plans for more than 210 million Americans with health coverage provided through Fortune 500 employers, health insurance plans, labor unions, and Medicare Part D.