A recent report from Surescripts notes that, in 2011, 36% of all prescriptions in the U.S. were submitted electronically, an increase of 22% over the year 2010. The electronic prescribing network’s study shows that doctors are increasingly signing up for paperless prescribing.
The U.S. government has been driving providers to switch to electronic prescribing, and those who have not signed up will find their reimbursements from Medicare reduced. Partly as a result, the number of prescriptions issued electronically went from 326 million in 2010 to 570 million in 2011, and 58% of office-based doctors were using e-prescribing at the end of last year.
Electronic prescriptions allow pharmacists to easily read them without dealing with doctors’ handwriting, and provide drug interaction information to the doctor during ordering. Patients wait less at the drugstore and are more likely to pick up their prescriptions because the pharmacists receive every order and can contact the patients regarding waiting medication.
Electronic prescriptions used in conjunction with an Electronic Health Records (EHR) system like Lytec MD, McKesson Practice Choice, or Allscripts MyWay improve patients’ healthcare and streamline a practice’s efficiency and workflow. Microwize Technology can help with enrollment and implementation.