Henry Ford launches e-prescribing initiative

Henry Ford Health System, one of the country’s largest health care systems, is launching an e-prescribing initiative. By the end of the first quarter, 100 physicians – 25 at four of Henry Ford’s medical centers will prescribe electronically.The physicians will use Rcopia, an electronic prescription management solution developed by Rockville, Md.-based DrFirst. Henry Ford chose Rcopia because of its e-prescribing writing functions and its fit with existing workflows, said Mark Kelley, MD, executive vice president at Henry Ford and CEO of the 800-physician Henry Ford Medical Group. Kelly said the technology also interfaced with the medical group’s existing electronic medical record system.

DrFirst Rcopia offers an end-to-end system that integrates patient eligibility and formulary information with medication history at the point-of-care. The system enables the physician to transmit the prescription to a pharmacy of the patient’s choosing. The pharmacy connection is bi-lateral, allowing prescriptions to be sent to community pharmacies and community pharmacies to send electronic renewal requests to the physician.

DrFirst Rcopia is designed to produce legible prescriptions and reduce the number of phone calls and faxes between the physicians’ office and the pharmacy, said John F. Bartos, Jr., president of DrFirst. The Henry Ford Medical Group has 22 centers across southeastern, Mich.