Electronic Prescription

There is a significant increase in the use of electronic prescription over the last several years. Historically, the US Government Agencies in the late 1990s explored the potential need for electronic prescribing systems to reduce clinical risk in busy hospitals and between 1999 and 2001. Later the US Institute of Medicine (IOM) published two reports, on how technology can support and improve patient safety. And in the 2001 report, “Crossing the Quality Chasm”, recommended that providers, purchasers, clinicians and patients work together to redesign the health care processes, with the goals to create an evidence-based medicine. In 2001, the US Senate came up with Medication Errors Reduction Act, a $ 1 billion federal grant programmed for healthcare
Mentioned that the use of Electron Prescribing technology has taken over hand-written drug treatments order. Most pharmacies, use online, real-time transactions to verify coverage eligibility, transmitting claims to payers and determine the copayments and deductibles. E-prescribing is used by clinicians to safely and efficiently manage patient's medications compared to paper prescription scripts. Electronic order improves patient safety and medication compliance. It also monitors the accuracy and efficiency as well as reducing the health care costs. The electronic prescription has cut down on medication errors. Investing in Electronic prescribing technology reduces the incidence of drug diversion because the system alerts the providers and pharmacists of duplicate prescriptions for controlled
It is sometimes difficult to streamline the workflow process. Change is a limiting factor and can be difficult for some people. The Financial Cost and Return on Investment (ROI) to purchasing, implementing, supporting and maintaining the system can be challenging for smaller clinical practices. Change in management is a challenge especially in a busy facility where health care staff are used the current management system and have to transition from paper-based prescriptions to e-prescribing. Hardware and software selection. Choosing the right hardware and software applications is also challenging. Issues with Integrity of data input. The issues with Security and Privacy poses a problem. The inability to use electronic prescribing when the System Down and fallbacks procedures and mechanisms must be established (Salmon & Jiang,