E-Prescribing

E-Prescribing or Electronic-Prescribing is the process where a prescription is generated automatically when a prescription for medication is entered into an automated data entry system (handheld, PC etc) thereby generating an electronic prescription instead of a hand written one.

E-Prescribing isn’t just a way to send prescriptions electronically to pharmacies but also it can ensure an increased care quality in different ways, discussed later in this article. E-Prescribing holds a considerable importance in Healthcare IT, which is precisely why Medicare devised payment incentives for physicians using a qualified e-prescribing system. In 2009 the incentives, when E-Prescribing was used, were an increase of 2% in revenue for each patient. Due to the 2009 HITECH Act, electronic prescribing is required as part of any EMR (EHR) which qualifies for Medicare reimbursement in 2011.

E-Prescribing is a better means of communication between the patient, physician, and pharmacist. Mixing drugs resulting in adverse drug effects, a frequent cause of hospitalization, can be controlled when complete medical records for each patient will be available to both the doctor and the druggist, which is of utmost importance to avoid drug conflicts. Since some drugs conflict with others causing reactions and even poisoning. The idea behind this is simply to safeguard the patient from being prescribed any medication which may result in unwanted outcome.

Using E-Prescribing technology, every patient will have a complete and comprehensive medical history in their E File. The doctor can then easily decide on the best possible medication to use and can contact the pharmacy directly instead of writing prescription manually. There is almost no chance of error this way as the prescription will be automatically cross referenced with the patient’s records to ensure there is no conflicting prescription from another doctor and will be sent automatically via internet to the pharmacy. So when the patient will arrive at the drug store, the medicine will be waiting already.

• E-prescribing makes sure that the physician provides enough information for the pharmacist to fill the prescription, including the name of the drug, the dosage and the physician’s instructions.
  
• E-Prescribing eliminates the time and effort to interpret the physician’s handwriting, as well as the chance of an error in it’s translation.
  
• E-prescribing is often used in conjunction with clinical decision support to ensure that any drug to drug interactions or drug to diagnosis issues are found and reported to the physician before the prescription order is completed.
  
• It reduces the number of errors caused by illegible prescriptions.
  
  
• It is quite convenient. Some systems even give the drug choices on
  screen, so sending a prescription is just a tap or click away.
  
  
• It’s safe. As discussed above it prevents most adverse drug events by warning the physician based on the patient’s medical history
  and use of other medications.
  

It also eliminates transcription errors from phoned-in prescriptions and minimizes the risk of accidental filling of sound-alike medications. E-Prescribing is cost effective and ensures there is no malpractice. It saves time as it uses internet instead of relying on the old fashioned method of filling prescriptions after reading the doctor’s handwriting then verifying and making the patient wait for the needed medications. E-prescribing is a secure alternative to paper prescriptions, which can be stolen, copied or in some cases even forged.

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