Stimulus Bill May Help Make Widespread E-Prescribing Possible
Advocates of measures to improve the efficiency of healthcare have been advocating electronic prescribing for many years, and if recent efforts in this area are anything to go by, as many as 75% of doctors might be using e-prescriptions in just five years.
E-prescriptions are paperless prescriptions, written electronically by your doctor and sent electronically to your pharmacy. No print-outs are involved at all - your doctor doesn't print you a copy, and a copy isn't faxed to your pharmacy. All the work is done electronically.
Find the health plan that works for you >>
Benefits of E-Prescriptions
Adopting an e-prescribing system has a number of benefits for both doctors and patients. The system is more efficient, potentially saving millions of dollars in healthcare expenditure, and meaning shorter waits for people getting prescriptions filled. More importantly, it could completely eliminate the harmful errors that can result when a doctor's handwriting is misread by a pharmacist.
The Costs of an E-Prescribing System
The biggest stumbling block in setting up an e-prescribing system for most doctors is the cost - around $3,000 to set up the system in a general practitioner's office. In January, a Medicare bonus program was launched, with bonuses provided for doctors who convert to an e-prescription system. For the next four years the average doctor can earn a bonus of up to $1,500 per year for using such a system.
Further improvements are on the way due to President Obama's stimulus bill, with approximately $19 billion earmarked for promotion and improvement of healthcare technology, including e-prescribing systems.
Save on health care with the right insurance plan >>
How E-Prescriptions Can Save Money
Currently around 13% of doctors use an e-prescribing system. One recent report predicts that figure will climb to around 75% within five years, and to 90% by 2018. Healthcare research company Visante for PCMA also predicts that e-prescribing could save the federal government $22 billion over the next ten years - more than enough to cover the money spent.
Where do the savings come from? PCMA says billions will be saved because the system will make it easier for doctors to prescribe cheaper generic drugs, thanks to on-screen computer alerts to let a doctor know when a generic is available for any given condition. And eliminating prescription errors will save money too. PCMA predicts that 3.5 million medical errors, and 585,000 hospitalizations due to errors, will have been prevented by 2018.
Start protecting your health – request a quote >>
Sources
http://pcmanet.org/pcma-study-new-stimulus-law-will-dramatically-increase-e-prescribing-adoption-rate/
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52F4VD20090316