News Article

VENDORS ANNOUNCE HEALTHCARE MARKET NEWS

Xerox Specialty Paper Used At The University Of Alabama To Prevent Prescription Pad Counterfeiting

July 1, 2008 - In response to federal regulations requiring medical professionals who write prescriptions for Medicaid patients to use pads with various security features to prevent reproduction or alteration, the University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System recently announced the implementation of Xerox’s specialty paper to print “tamper-resistant” prescription pads on the school’s Xerox iGen3 110 Digital Press.

According to Xerox, the new prescription pads for the University of Alabama at Birmingham include security features such as “thermochromic ink,” which makes the “Rx” mark on back of the document fade from red to clear when heat is applied and change back to its original color when cooled; “reactive stains” that will appear when someone attempts to “chemically alter” the prescription; invisible fluorescent fibers embedded in the document that can only be seen using a black light; micro-printing that can be seen only under magnification, with the border on the back of the pad reading “Original Document” in micro-print; a security screen pattern that appears on the front if the document is copied; and watermarks printed on the front (“void”) and back (“Secure prescription”) of the pad that appear when the document is copied.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the new federal regulation was tacked on to the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act of 2007 and requires each state to implement one or more of the following into written, non-electronic Medicaid outpatient drug prescriptions given to patients: one or more industry-recognized features designed to prevent unauthorized copying of a completed or blank prescription form; one or more industry-recognized features designed to prevent the erasure or modification of information written on the prescription by the prescriber; one or more industry-recognized features designed to prevent the use of counterfeit prescription forms.

Xerox “specialty paper” includes its Custom Media Applications products, which include media designed for industries such as financial, medical and government institutions. One such example is its “Security and Checks Stocks,” which are designed with security features built into the paper for tamper resistance and Check 21 compliance. According to Xerox’s Web site, “fraud prevention options” for its Security and Checks Stocks include: “thermochromic inks, micro-printing, void pantographs, fluorescent fibers, and more.”

Kyocera Mita Earns Meditech Certification For Ecopro Printers

July 1, 2008 - Two Kyocera Mita EcoPro printers, the EP 470DN and EP 370DN, have recently been certified by Medical Information Technology, Inc. (MEDITECH), a healthcare software solutions provider, for use with MEDITECH’s “MAGIC” operating system. According to Kyocera Mita, the MAGIC operating system is used by more than 1,500 healthcare organizations worldwide.

The units’ compatibility was demonstrated by printing sample reports with the EcoPro printers in various formats from all MEDITECH MAGIC applications. The prints were then compared to MEDITECH’s master copies of the reports to confirm that each of the characters matched precisely. MEDITECH also tests that the printer’s network interface card responds appropriately to more than one request from the MAGIC operating system. For more information on the Kyocera EP 470DN and EP 370DN, check out their respective First Look Reports available on bliQ.

Ricoh Receives Pinnacle Award From Premier Healthcare Alliance

July 1, 2008 - Ricoh Americas Corporation recently accepted its third annual Pinnacle Award from Premier Healthcare Alliance’s Purchasing Partners unit. According to Ricoh, the award recognizes suppliers whose performance “meets or exceeds the expectations of Premier and its members as they carry out their missions of meeting the healthcare needs of communities they serve.” Ricoh was one of 15 Premier contracted suppliers (out of 800) to receive the award.

Dave Barwick, Ricoh’s director of healthcare and higher education, and Scott Petraglia, Ricoh’s corporate account manager, accepted the award at the 2008 Premier Annual Breakthroughs Conference & Exhibition in Nashville, Tennessee.