We are all familiar with the hapless condition of the healthcare system in the US. Although a significant percentage of the federal budget was being spent on healthcare, experiencing the expected outcome was barely evident. While there existed several problems which needed to be addressed immediately, the medical prescription was certainly a vital one. Over time, be it free EMRs or the ones that charge a monthly subscription fee, became the stepping stone to help in mitigating such problems.
According to research, every year a significant number of complaints were reported against medication prescription errors. On one hand, you would come across physicians complaining about the loss of prescription notes on part of the patients, while on the other hand, patients and pharmacies would point fingers towards handwriting errors made on the prescription notes. Since an appropriate remedy was the need of the hour, EMR technology came to rescue, owing to the concept of electronic prescription through EMRs.
It is believed that electronic prescribing has played its role to completely change the dynamics of the healthcare system. Ensuring accountability and storing evidence, which was not possible in paper-based practice, has started to settle in the healthcare system ever since the inception of EMR. The science behind electronic prescription is simple; once the physicians are finished with documenting the patient encounter, using the EMR, he can send the prescription details directly to the pharmacy.
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Realizing the potential advantages that electronic prescription could bring to the healthcare industry, even the government included it as one of the core objectives of the meaningful use program. Since the government is taking the matter seriously, it expects the physicians to do the same too. This means that if physicians want to get their hands on the incentive funds; sooner or later they would have to start electronic prescription.
Not only have EMRs and the mechanism of electronic prescribing helped save valuable time but also eliminated the loopholes that existed within the system. Today, majority physicians across the US are using electronic prescriptions. According to a leading health IT magazine, approximately 67% physicians across the US are using e-prescriptions. As the technology progresses, experiencing more innovative breakthroughs is just a matter of time.
The writer is a leading Health IT analyst contributing regularly on some of the most pressing topics like Electronic Health Records, Practice Management, eRx, Patient Portal, Billing Services, Compliance and Privacy and Security.
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