Almost two-thirds of adults in the US use prescription medications. For the independent physician, writing and sending prescriptions to pharmacies must be a seamless and secure process, particularly when the prescription is for a controlled substance such as pain medication. A quality electronic health record (EHR) system will give the independent practice the tools it needs to provide quality care, including the ability to electronically send orders for medications. Does your EHR offer seamless e-prescribing?
Electronic prescribing, more commonly known as e-prescribing, enables healthcare providers to enter prescription information into their computer and securely transmit the prescription to pharmacies. When the pharmacy receives the prescription, it is a seamless process to begin filling the medication immediately.
Benefits of e-prescribing include:
- Helping to improve healthcare quality and patient safety
- Reducing medication errors
- Checking for drug interactions
- Making care more convenient by enabling providers to electronically request refills
- Providing a more convenient, less expensive, and safer option for providers, pharmacists, and patients.
A recent piece highlighting the top e-prescribing software by Forbes Advisor named Elation’s platform among the best for clinicians looking for a faster, safer way to generate and fill medication orders that allows them to reduce errors in the pharmacy and send clinicians notifications for potential interactions. Specifically, the reviewers noted features such as prescription cancellation, prescription renewal and SMS messaging that make it a robust solution for medication management.
Does your EHR offer seamless e-prescribing? Not every EHR system will be automatically compatible with the security updates required for electronic prescribing. Elation enables the independent physician to write, review, and send the prescription electronically in a secure and seamless environment. Learn how to e-prescribe with the Elation EHR solution.
E-prescribing also enables a provider to send a more accurate and understandable prescription seamlessly and securely, which is a critical element in improving the quality of patient care. The inclusion of electronic prescribing in the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) of 2003 gave momentum to the movement, and the July 2006 Institute of Medicine report on the role of e-prescribing in reducing medication errors received widespread publicity, helping to build awareness of e-prescribing’s role in enhancing patient safety.
Pain medications are the most commonly abused prescription drugs. The ability to transmit prescription orders electronically is also important in the effort to reduce the abuse of controlled substances such as opioids. Technology known as Electronic Prescribing for Controlled Substances (EPCS) improves the safety and security of the prescription order.
In fact, 13 states enacted e-prescribing requirements in 2019. To date, more than half of the states in this country now require e-prescribing for opioids, all controlled substances, or all prescriptions. Electronic prescriptions can help protect patients against prescription fraud and abuse.
Two doctors at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) said in a statement recently that “The value of EPCS technology – streamlined prescriber workflow, improved medication safety, and reduced drug diversion and fraud – should be available to all clinicians.”