First DataBank Joins Health 2.0 Accelerator Consortium and Partners with PharmaSURVEYOR to Offer Online Access to Standardized Drug Codes

Pilot project aims to provide easy access to standardized drug codes and promote interoperability among Internet-based healthcare services.

First DataBank, a leading provider of integrated drug databases for the healthcare industry, announced on October 6, 2009, that it would join PharmaSURVEYOR and a growing list of “Health 2.0 companies” as participants in the Health 2.0 Accelerator, a consortium focused on promoting integration of technology and the consumer experience to advance consumer-centric health care.

In addition, First DataBank announced that it has partnered with PharmaSURVEYOR, a founding member of the Health 2.0 Accelerator (H2A), to launch a pilot project for direct online access to the company’s proprietary drug information and standardized drug codes. The Drug Code Lookup Service (DCLS) will provide Web developers with easy online access to First DataBank’s standardized drug codes with the aim to promote interoperability among Internet-based healthcare services and the portability of patient records across healthcare providers.

“We’re excited to work with PharmaSURVEYOR and H2A to make reliable up-to-date drug information available and affordable to this emerging ecosystem of patient-centric healthcare technologies,” said Don Nielsen, MD, president, First DataBank. “It is our intention that this pilot program will facilitate ease of information exchange so that ultimately the healthcare consumer can easily access the information they need to make informed health care decisions or improve the health care they receive.”

Drug codes accessed through the DCLS are provided from First DataBank’s National Drug Data File (NDDF™) Plus, one of the healthcare industry’s most widely used sources of up-to-date drug information utilized at the point of care. PharmaSURVEYOR will provide online access to NDDF Pluscodes through Web services using a pay-per-use pricing model.

“The Drug Code Lookup Service couples the highest standards of drug data curation with the access, ease of use and limitless scalability of Web 2.0,” said Erick Von Schweber, executive co-chair of PharmaSURVEYOR, Inc.

The partnership between First DataBank and PharmaSURVEYOR also illustrates a key focus of the Health 2.0 Accelerator consortium: collaboration. H2A works with its participants to encourage collaboration around specific business or technical objectives to benefit consumers in ways that are challenging or inefficient for companies to tackle alone. For established healthcare companies, such as First DataBank, H2A provides an opportunity to collaborate with Health 2.0 companies and pursue innovative solutions for empowering patients to more actively engage in managing their health.

“We see this partnership as a potential model for how innovative Health 2.0 companies like PharmaSURVEYOR and seasoned health IT leaders like First DataBank can come together as H2A participants to make reliable data and powerful tools available to the community,” said Julie Murchinson, executive director of the Health 2.0 Accelerator.

The DCLS pilot was highlighted during the Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco, on October 7, 2009, and will be made available by PharmaSURVEYOR to members of the Health 2.0 Accelerator. The pilot program is the first in a series of offerings to make drug data available through online services. Following the pilot program, general availability of the Drug Code Lookup Service is planned for early 2010.