January 18, 2007
Free E-Prescription Software for U.S. Physicians
According to Government Health IT, a coalition of nine technology companies, three major insurers and 12 health care provider organizations launched a five-year, $100 million project this week to provide e-prescribing software to every physician in the United States.
Free e-prescribing software provided by the National ePrescribing Patient Safety Initiative (NEPSI) should help drive doctors’ adoption of the technology, said Nancy Dickey, president of the Health Science Center and vice chancellor for health affairs at the Texas A&M University System. It is estimated that approximately one-fifth of doctors in the country currently use e-prescribing software.
The goal of the e-prescribing initiative is to eliminate common errors associated with handwritten prescriptions, including wrong drugs sold because a pharmacist can't read a doctor's writing, and a lack of drug interaction checks
Many doctors have complained of the cost of implementing an e-prescribing system, but e-prescribing vendor Allscripts is making its eRX Now software available as a Web-based service, accessible with any PC, mobile phone, or PDA connected to the Internet. About 20,000 U.S. doctors currently use eRX Now, according to Allscripts.
Some doctors have also raised concerns about the amount of training needed for office workers, but it is estimated that most people with any computer experience should be able to understand eRX Now in less than 30 minutes
National ePrescribing Patient Safety Initiative
IOM Report on Preventing Medication Errors (pdf)