Healthcare Shopper News

For the informed consumer of health care

Online Prescribing Program Introduced

Paper prescriptions are dangerous because of the risk for medical errors. The technology for electronic prescribing has existed for some time, yet fewer than 5% of practicing physicians in the U.S. currently use electronic prescribing. Many physicians are reluctant to adopt electronic prescribing largely because of the cost of the systems and a perception that the technology requires too much time to learn and install.

The National E-Prescribing Safety Initiative -- a coalition of technology and health care companies -- has launched an Internet-based electronic prescribing program that physicians can access at no cost. The software, called eRx NOW, is available free to any health care provider with legal authority to prescribe medication, and requires no download, no new hardware and minimal training. Health care information technology company Allscripts and Dell developed eRx NOW with contributions from Cisco Systems, Google and Microsoft. Other members of NEPSI include Aetna, Wellpoint, Sprint Nextel and SureScripts. The initiative will cost more than $100 million over five years.

Posted by Phil Daigle on January 19, 2007 9:33 PM
Permalink | Comments (0) | Trackback (0) | Email to a friend Email to a friend


TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.healthcareshopper.com/admin/mt-tb.cgi/134

Post a comment