Ohio Testing New E-Prescription System to Boost Efficiency, Reduce Pharmacy Errors
Pharmacies and physicians in Ohio are test driving an electronic prescription system that marks a move from old, handwritten paper prescription to paperless prescription procedures, promising among other things, the reduction of errors.
Physicians in some counties already have the e-prescription system installed, and have been using it with success. There has been a lot of positive feedback about the system that allow doctors to maintain records of patients, and then send their prescriptions to the pharmacy to be filled and ready by the time the patient gets there. The program is part of a nationwide promotion of the system by the federal government including a Medicare bonus incentive for doctors who prescribe through the system, that's expected to kick off in 2009.
Among the obvious advantages of the system is greater efficiency, increased speed, and consequently, a reduction in the amount of time patients have to wait at a pharmacy while a prescription is being filled. One of the biggest grouses people have is the wait time it takes for their prescription to be ready, and this system promises to cut that time drastically to almost nil. There have been complaints however, that the system is not as time efficient as it should be.
But the biggest advantage could be in the doing away with handwritten prescriptions, often in a physician's illegible handwriting, and the move to an electronic system which is uniformly legible and understandable. This takes away at least one factor that results in pharmacy errors, out of the equation - doctor's often hurried and unintelligible handwriting. But the system does not factor in the other aspects that often play a greater part in pharmacy errors, like the speed with which prescriptions are filled. Pharmacists at chain pharmacies are often under pressure to fill as many prescriptions as humanly possible, or have incentives to do so which only increases the risk for potentially dangerous medication mistakes. The system also won't take into account factors like fatigue, overwork, stress and others that can contribute to an error while filling a prescription. It also won't deal with similar sounding drug names. Already, pharmacists complain that the system comes with some software issues that could compound the error potential. For instance, the system dispenses directions for liquid medications along with tablet or capsule prescriptions. Plus, it takes time to set up, although it's easy to use once it's actually installed.
There are an approximate 85,000 doctors around the country who have electronic prescription systems installed, and more than 70 percent of pharmacies in the country accept these. How well the system will work over the long run, especially after the bonus system adds incentive to prescribe electronically, will have to be seen.
