Newly-tapped CMS Administrator Mark McClellan said the adoption of electronic medical records and electronic prescribing is one of his top priorities, InformationWeek reports. McClellan also said he wants the agency to beat the 2009 deadline for the adoption of standards for writing and transmitting electronic prescriptions as mandated by the Medicare reform law. The FDA, which McClellan headed until two weeks ago, in February backed the use of radio-frequency drug identification technology. McClellan said there is agreement within the pharmaceutical industry that RFID should be used to track drug shipments by 2007, and he called RFID "the most promising technology" for combating drug counterfeiting.
McClellan also urged pharmaceutical makers to use the same imaging systems and advanced information technologies they use for drug development to expedite and reduce the costs of the FDA process for testing drugs (Whiting, InformationWeek, 4/5).