Fayetteville, Ark. – Dr. Marek Durakiewicz initially welcomed the opportunity to send prescriptions to drugstores electronically, using free computer equipment provided by a state pilot program.
The chief of staff at Hickman Community Hospital in Centerville, Tenn., Durakiewicz recognized the potential benefits of “e-prescribing.” Special software allows doctors to see instantly if the drug they are ordering is covered by a patient’s health insurance plan; if there’s a less expensive, generic alternative, or if the patient is already taking medication that may interact dangerously with the new one. For patients, there’s no piece of paper to misplace.
Advocates say e-prescribing is a key advance toward health care’s digital future because of its potential to reduce medical errors, cut drug costs and save doctors and patients time and money. E-prescribing is growing – the number of doctors doing it is now more than 120,000, 20 percent of all office-based prescribers, according to an industry source. But kinks need to be worked out to spur more rapid acceptance.
Doctors and patients in a number of states have complaints, including Durakiewicz. Malfunctioning hardware and cumbersome security features — such as software that logged him out automatically every 30 minutes — left him frustrated. Patient prescription histories provided by the system weren’t as current as he had expected. In addition, federal restrictions prevented him from e-prescribing certain pain medications. More Here EMR