EMR Benefits: E-Prescribing
E-prescribing is the ability of a healthcare facility to send computer-generated prescriptions directly to the pharmacy. E-prescribing allows medical practitioners to generate and send prescriptions immediately allowing healthcare professionals to send accurate and understandable prescriptions. It can potentially reduce medication errors associated with traditional prescriptions.[1]
Contents
Benefits
With the implementation of electronic prescribing system (e-prescribing) doctors can directly establish communication with a pharmacy, preventing the common mistakes committed in traditional prescriptions. Among the disadvantages of paper records are that they may get lost as well as they can be misread.
Specific benefits of the implementation of E-prescribing systems are:[2]
- An e-prescribing system can help in the reduction of medical errors committed by pharmacist such as the interpretation of illegible handwriting.
- Provides warning and alert systems at the point of care
- Access to patient medical history from other pharmacies
- Increasing patient convenience and medication compliance
- Diminish the amount of phone calls and faxes assisting in the reduction of cost
- Reducing costs by actively promoting appropriate drug usage
- Improve workflow efficiencies
Limitations
Concerns have been raised regarding the inability to transmit patient weight through eRx transmission standards, and the potential difficulty in applying weight-based dosing. Also, prescription information is limited to 140 characters, making more complicated compounding prescriptions impractical.[3]
Pharmacists have reported higher Rx inaccuracy with eRx than paper prescriptions, resulting in higher cost and time spent in verifying the accuracy of eRx prescriptions. [4]
Importance of E-prescribing
Implementing the standards to facilitate e-prescribing represents one of the key actions in the government in order to expedite the use of Electronic health records (EHR).
Electronic prescribing incentive program
The Electronic Prescribing (eRx) Incentive Program is a reporting program that uses a combination of incentive payments and payment adjustments to encourage electronic prescribing by eligible professionals. [5]
References
- ↑ E-prescribing https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/E-health/Eprescribing/index.html
- ↑ E-prescribing Benefits http://www.hhs.gov/asl/testify/2007/12/t20071204d.html
- ↑ http://geekdoctor.blogspot.com/2014/07/limitations-of-e-prescribing-standards.html
- ↑ http://www.uspharmacist.com/content/s/266/c/42392/
- ↑ E-prescribing Incentive program https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/ERxIncentive/index.html?redirect=/ERxIncentive/
