E-health is a key facilitator for reform

“The future of healthcare in Europe is being shaped by e-Health and Sweden has had huge successes in this area. It is this excellence in e-health that has led to Sweden being given the responsibility, along with 11 other member states, of developing e-health within the European Union. Public Service Review asked the Head of e-Health at the Swedish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs to describe his country’s technologically advanced healthcare systems.”
Article
Public Service Review: European Union Issue 16, 7 October 2008

E-prescribing guide for clinicians aims to aid adoption

“The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has released an electronic prescribing guide for clinicians at its National e-Prescribing Conference in Boston.
“A Clinician’s Guide to Electronic Prescribing,” unveiled Tuesday, is designed to meet the needs of two target audiences.”
Article
Molly Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 7 October 2008

Guide

Healthcare IT leaders kick off government’s e-prescribing drive

“With the first phase of Medicare’s mandate for e-prescribing rolling out in January, healthcare IT leaders, led by Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, gathered Tuesday in Boston to jumpstart the initiative.
“One of the beauties of the system is that it will reduce the number of medical mistakes … and tragic results,” Leavitt said at the National E-prescribing Conference.”
Article
Bernie Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 7 October 2008

Commission certifies outpatient EHR systems

“The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology this week listed the first vendors certified under the organization’s 2008 criteria for ambulatory electronic health record products.”
Article
John Moore, Government Health IT, 1 October 2008

E-Prescribing: Why the Fuss?

“Recently electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) has been a hot topic. Policymakers in Washington assume that widespread adoption of e-prescribing will save money and improve health care quality.
They anticipate cost reductions through the reduction of medical errors and through increased prescription of more affordable medications, such as generics. Preliminary research supports these assumptions.”
Article
FP Kenneth Adler, Family Practice Management, pre-published September 2008

Doctors and the DEA

“Proposed rules that would let doctors electronically prescribe controlled substances could raise the security bar in ways that frustrate health care providers.
E-prescribing is in a bit of a bind. The practice is caught between a federal directive that aims to encourage adoption and another that serves to inhibit use.”
Article
John Moore, Government Health IT, 26 September 2008

Accelerating Progress: Using Health Information Technology and Electronic Health Information Exchange to Improve Care

“The U.S. health care system offers some of the most advanced and effective care in the world, with some of the best-trained providers and most advanced technology. Yet, the United States spends more per capita on health care than any other developed country while often achieving equal or poorer results in terms of health outcomes and access to services.
Health information technology (HIT) and electronic health information exchange (HIE) are critical tools in states’ efforts to transform health care in this country. HIT has strong potential to drive health system improvements, and states have taken steps in recent years to promote widespread use of HIT and enable access to information through electronic exchange.”
Report
State Alliance for e-Health, September 2008

State Officials Push E-Prescribing

“The State Alliance for eHealth has issued its inaugural report, emphasizing the importance of electronic prescribing as a first step toward broader use of information technology in health care. An initiative of the National Governor’s Association, the alliance comprises a variety of state officials, including governors, legislators, attorneys general and commissioners.”
Article
Health Data Management, 24 September 2008

Free E-Prescribing for Florida Docs

“Health insurers Humana Inc. and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida are offering free Web-based electronic prescribing software and hardware to physicians in their networks in Florida.”
Article
Health Data Management, 22 September 2008

State Alliance calls for state action on healthcare IT

“The State Alliance for e-Health, made up of governors and state officials from across the country, is calling on states to support e-prescribing and address medical privacy and security issues in order to boost healthcare IT.”
Article
Bernie Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 23 September 2008

Patient safety through e?prescribing

“The focus of the first joint E?Health Insider/British Computer Society Health Informatics Forum (HIF) round table was how to use  electronic prescribing to improve patient safety. The event sought to examine what lessons the primary care experience of e?prescribing could offer secondary care professionals working to develop acute  sector e?prescribing.
The participants in the day?long event were a high-level panel of  experts from academia, pharmacy, and GP and pharmacy system  suppliers. IT professionals with experience of prescribing implementations took part, as did representatives of NHS Connecting for Health and the Scottish national e?health  programme.
Chaired by Dr Glyn Hayes, the ex?chair of the BCS HIF, the panel examined what the acute sector could learn from primary care, which, since the 1980s, has steadily introduced computer systems and moved towards e?prescribing. Two years ago, 95% of all  prescriptions in primary care were being electronically generated. The improved legibility of printed prescriptions has been the key patient safety benefit achieved.”
Report
E?Health Insider and British Computer Society Health Informatics Forum, September 2008

E-prescribing round table report

“The National Programme for IT in the NHS and hospital boards should put e-prescribing at the top of their agendas because of the huge patient safety benefits to be gained, a round-table discussion has concluded.
The round table on e-prescribing, jointly organised by E-Health Insider and the British Computer Society’s Health Informatics Forum, brought together academics, clinicians and industry experts to discuss the benefits of e-prescribing and what the acute sector could learn from primary care, where it is well established.”
Article
e-Health Insider, 23 September 2008

E-prescribing service launched for Florida physicians

“Jacksonville, Fla. -based Availity and Vienna, Va.-based Prematics have launched a new electronic prescribing service for Florida physicians.
The new service called CarePrescribe is integrated across the Prematics and Availity network platforms, making it accessible through the Availity Health Information Network, a secure online health information exchange, and through a handheld system provisioned by Prematics.”
Article
Molly Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 22 September 2008

“EMR 2.0: Are Canadian MD’s ready?”

“If one looks at the evolution of the physician’s office electronic medical record (EMR) in Canada, it is clear that the industry was spawned with an eye towards the administrative aspects of running a physician practice. It began with electronic billing which delivered the benefit of greater revenue and/or reduced costs; always a critical consideration for any business endeavor. It then evolved to include scheduling of patients as an extension of the billing process, or as a general office function.”
Article
Alan Brookstone (Eric Gombrich), CanadianEMR, 21 September 2008

Allscripts integrates e-prescribing solution into Google Health

“Allscripts officials say they have integrated their e-prescribing solution with Google Health to offer physicians a new means of sharing patient medication history.
The integration between Allscripts and Google will allow patients to securely transfer medication history, allergies and conditions from their physician’s Allscripts ePrescribe application to their Google Health account.”
Article
Molly Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 18 September 2008

Private e-scrips to launch

“Pharmacist Paul Naismith is taking a punt on launching a privately-owned electronic prescribing project, ahead of the release of a KPMG review on options being considered by the federal Government.
Mr Naismith, chief executive of pharmacy IT supplier Fred Health, said improving “basic safety” by reducing medication errors was too important to delay.”
Article
Karen Dearne, Australian IT, 16 September 2008

Microsoft joins electronic prescribing project

“Microsoft is putting its muscle behind a national electronic prescribing project, eRX Script Exchange, intended to create a secure gateway that allows doctors to send scripts to pharmacies online.
Pharmacy IT supplier Fred Health plans to deliver the system Australia-wide by mid-2009, in partnership with New Zealand software and consulting company Simpl and Microsoft Australia.”
Article
Karen Dearne, Australian IT, 2 September 2008

National Quality Forum Endorses National Consensus Standards for Health Information Technology

“To improve quality and efficiency and reduce errors and unnecessary treatments across the healthcare system, the National Quality Forum (NQF) has endorsed nine new national voluntary consensus standards for health information technology (HIT) in the areas of electronic prescribing, electronic health record (EHR) interoperability, care management, quality registries, and the medical home. These HIT structural measures are intended to help providers assess the efficiency and standardization of current HIT systems and identify areas where additional HIT tools can be used.”
Article
PRNewswire, 29 August 2008

Kentucky health data exchange kicks off e-prescribing initiative

“HealthBridge, a health information exchange operating in the Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky region, has launched its community e-prescribing application enabling physicians to send prescriptions electronically to area pharmacies.
Article
Bernie Monegain, 27 August 2008

Andalusia, Balearic Islands to get e-prescribing

“Two Spanish regions will adopt electronic prescribing solutions as part of a 1.35 million-euro initiative to improve healthcare services.”
Article
Chip Means, Healthcare IT News Europe, 22 August 2008

E-Prescribing…Here to Stay?

“About a month ago, an analyst was asking me about the e-prescribing legislation and trends and how that would impact the financials of the PBMs. I told her that I remained a little bit of a skeptic for several reasons.”
Article
George van Antwerp, Patient Centric Healthcare, 20 August 2008

Half of Scottish prescriptions sent electronically

“Over half of all NHS prescriptions issued in Scotland are now sent electronically, latest figures show.
Since the start of electronic transfer of prescriptions (ETP) in Scotland in January 2008, 7.72 million prescriptions have been sent electronically. In July this figure reached 1.955 million — more than 50% of all the prescriptions issued.”
Article
e-Health Insider Primary Care, 19 August 2008

DH gives go-ahead for EPS Release 2

“A regulatory impact assessment has given the green light to the next stage of the Electronic Prescriptions Service – one of the national projects being undertaken by NHS Connecting for Health.”
Article
e-Health Insider Primary Care, 18 August 2008

Security Features Not Limited to Paper

“Electronic prescribers who want to print prescriptions for Medicaid patients no longer will have to spend up to 10 times the cost of plain paper to comply with new tamper-resistance regulations, the result of intense negotiations between government officials, medical societies, the pharmacy industry, paper manufacturers, and two health-IT advocacy groups.”
Article
Neil Versel, Digital Healthcare & Productivity, 29 July 2008

Privacy Advocates Sound Alarm About Electronic Prescribing

“Where there’s a push to make medical records electronic, there’s a worried patient-privacy advocate.
In an interview with USA Today, Tim Sparapani, senior legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, raised a red flag about electronic prescribing: “Any time you put something in a digital format and standardize it, it becomes much more profitable and easy to move those records”.”
Article
Sarah Rubenstein, WSJ Health Blog, 29 July 2008

Writing is on the wall for doctors’ e-prescriptions

“The move to get doctors to file prescriptions electronically is gathering steam and may get a further boost from new Medicare rules that give doctors money to go electronic — and take it away if they don’t.”
Article
Janet Kornblum, USA TODAY, 29 July 2009

E-prescribers see Medicare bonus, but late adopters will face pay cut

“The Bush administration is running a full-court press on physicians to get them to embrace electronic prescribing well ahead of a new Medicare mandate that is a little more than three years away.
Under the Medicare payment bill that became law in July, doctors who prescribe electronically for Part D patients in 2009 will get an incentive payment equal to 2% of all the Medicare services they provide for the year. This bonus will phase down over five years and disappear at the beginning of 2014.”
Article
David Glendinning, AMNews, 4 August 2008

BCBSNC makes eRx more available with partnership, new Web site

“Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is partnering with Community Care of North Carolina and its 14 regional healthcare networks in a statewide e-prescribing launch, which includes the debut of its new e-prescribing Web site.”
Article
Molly Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 23 July 2008

eHealth 301: Electronic Prescriptions ePrescribing Reduces Healthcare Costs and Medication Errors

“Imagine a world in which doctors can instantaneously see whether the medication they are prescribing you is the
appropriate dosage and has no contra-indications that could harm you. Imagine never having to worry that you will receive the wrong medicine simply because your doctor’s handwriting was illegible to the pharmacist. Imagine doctors and clinicians spending less time on administrative paper shuffling and having more time to provide you care.
Health information technology can transform our healthcare system, dramatically reducing costs, improving quality and delivery of care, and saving lives. It can change the way clinical facilities operate, providing patients with the most efficient and effective treatment possible.
In our eHealth 101 report, AeA analyzed the benefits of widespread use of electronic medical records (EMRs). Our eHealth 201 report looked at the potential of telemedicine, or remote healthcare delivery, in expanding access to healthcare. In this eHealth 301 report, we examine the benefits of ePrescribing, or the use of electronic prescriptions.”
Article
The AeA Competitiveness Series, July 2008

Leavitt promotes e-prescribing amid provider concerns about barriers

“Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said Monday his department will do all it can to promote the use of electronic prescribing as a way to launch widespread use of healthcare IT.
Advancing electronic prescribing is and has been “a top goal” of this administration, Leavitt said.”
Article
Diana Manos, Healthcare IT News, 22 July 2008