Does your doctor use e-prescriptions?

Does your doctor use e-prescriptions? If not, then he or she will likely be adopting the use of e-prescriptions and e-medical records in the very near future. Why? Because if they don’t they may face penalties.

And this is because Congress authorized funding of some $27 billion to promote the use of e-health records in an effort to cut health care costs as part of the overall stimulus plan.  And this technology includes the use of e-prescriptions and e-medical records.

According to Surescripts, the nations leading electronic prescribing network, the use of e-prescriptions is gaining ground.  The company reported there were 156,000 active prescribers in 2009 including physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants. This represents a 109% increase in prescribers when compared with 2008 figures. But according to Reuters, the current figure is even higher at 200,000 prescribers.

How does e-prescribing work? Basically, the health care provider uses a computer with e-prescribing software to access patient prescription benefit information and then routes the prescription to patient’s pharmacy.

This is generally viewed as good news for patient, doctor and pharmacy for a number of reasons. For the patient it means a reduction in medical errors (including drug type and amount) caused by doctors customary poor hand writing. It also helps to ensure that patients actually fill and pick up their prescriptions as an estimated 20% of patients never make it to the pharmacy with their prescriptions.

Because the system has the technology to provide a review from the prescriber’s office against the patient’s medication history, it’s possible for the pharmacy to do allergy checks and drug to drug interactions checks – all important information to protect patient safety.

This system also gives physicians information as to which drug is being covered by the patient’s health plan and this should mean lower drug costs for the patient and fewer calls between doctors and pharmacists.

Reducing health care costs, improving patient safety and increasing efficiency all sound like pretty good reasons for doctors, nurse practitioners and  physician’s assistants to adopt this new technology in the near future.  Let’s hope so, because if they will most certainly face fines.