Checking in on FDB Vela, the Nation's Second E-prescribing Network

FDB President Bob Katter sits down with Healthcare IT News to talk electronic prescribing and explain why the country needs a second eRx network after more than 15 years with only one. We believed FDB was the ideal candidate to help usher in fresh ideas and improved efficiencies across the industry, since our drug knowledge solutions already touch all the major stakeholders in the e-prescribing ecosystem, including large PBMs, major pharmacies and a whole gamut of EHR vendors that equip the provider community with medication decision support tools. To put it in basic terms, if you consider an e-prescribing network as a set of pipes through which information flows, FDB is not only knowledgeable about creating the infrastructure for these pipes, but also about the data flowing through them.

For example, FDB Vela includes real-time pharmacy benefit checking that goes beyond the traditional NCPDP formulary check for medications, because it delivers real-time information to the prescriber about the patient's financial responsibility, so the prescriber can have a fully informed discussion with the patient. FDB Vela is open to all entities that have a legitimate purpose to transact, even those that have been challenged to participate in e-prescribing in the past. We have designed FDB Vela specifically to foster innovation in e-prescribing for all participants, many of whom have been challenged by numerous costly and time-consuming e-prescribing network requirements and have even abandoned new solutions due to resource limitations. FDB Vela participants can select the e-prescribing network that best meets their needs for each transaction type. Integrating with FDB Vela is typically a two- or three-month process leveraging FDB Vela APIs. Participants can use their imaginations and configure their e-prescribing-related workflows to suit their requirements instead of ours.

That is why we are giving participants in the FDB Vela ecosystem the tools and flexibility they need to create services and customize e-prescribing workflows for their users. By supporting innovation through easy-to-integrate, highly scalable technology and flexible contracts, we believe FDB Vela will emerge as the preferred e-prescribing network. We are confident that many of the stakeholders I have mentioned – including EHR vendors, PBMs and pharmacies – will be open to expanding their e-prescribing relationships to include FDB Vela, considering the enhanced value and freedom our new network affords. A. There are many new opportunities within e-prescribing that we want to explore with our customers and with FDB Vela, starting with empowering the patient to manage their own prescriptions.