Technology: Is E-Prescribing Worthwhile?
Some say it can pay for itself and protect patients. Find out if it’s right for your practice.
General Motors' e-prescribing initiative, featuring Rcopia from DrFirst, is featured in a news clip about the benefits of e-prescribing and the recent push for congress to federally mandate electronic prescribing.
MediNotes Announces General Availability of MediNotes e 5.2 EMR
Offers expanded functionality to the award-winning Rcopia from DrFirst, the nation's leading electronic prescribing system. ...
MEDITECH bolsters drug data through DrFirst alliance
WESTWOOD, MA - Healthcare information systems vendor MEDITECH is adding e-prescribing and medication reconciliation to its portfolio through an alliance with DrFirst...
DrFirst Offers E-Rx on iPhone
Rockville, Md.-based DrFirst has enabled its electronic prescribing technology to run on the Apple iPhone...
E-Prescribing on the iPhone
Rockville, Md-based vendor DrFirst, Inc., has formatted its e-prescribing program, Rcopia, for the small screens of mobile devices to allow providers to navigate a full-featured version of Rcopia on the iPhone...
Pilot program in drug reconciliation aims to avoid errors
Many hospitals have instituted paper-based systems to capture inpatient prescription information to avoid adverse drug events, but one community-based hospital has gone a step further to adopt an automated medication reconciliation program. Fauquier Health System in northern Virginia is currently testing a pilot system that electronically provides the hospital staff with a patient's medication history.
Bringing the Outside In
By Daphne Lawrence
Hospital and vendor collaborate on development of a medication reconciliation IT solution.
Illinois embarks on self-sustaining e-prescribing funding initiative
By Patty Enrado, Contributing Editor
CHICAGO - The first group of physicians participating in the Illinois E-Rx Collaborative and DrFirst's e-prescribing initiative has begun writing prescriptions electronically.
Hospitals Giving the Gift of Technology
Relaxed regulations may spark largesse, but when it comes to I.T. donations, nothing is really free.
By Beckie Kelly Schuerenberg, Senior Editor
E-prescribing seen as hit
By Donna M. Perry , Staff Writer
E-prescribing effort revs up
By Patty Enrado, Contributing Editor, 03/01/06
"This program is unique in that we have seen greater hands-on investment by BCBSNC than we have seen from a single health plan in the past," said Cameron Deemer, senior vice president and general manager at DrFirst. "BCBSNC understands their role as a thought leader, and are truly propelling acceptance of this new technology forward towards greater acceptance by physicians and increasing public demand as a standard of care."
E-prescribing initiative under way in Idaho
"The Idaho Physicians Network launched an e-prescribing initiative last month. This pilot will be the first sponsored e-prescribing project in the state, according to the physicians, and it represents a growing number of physicians who will utilize the broad pharmacy connectivity offered by electronic prescribing in their clinical decision making for patients."
"United Physicians, P.C. , the largest independent physician organization in Southeast Michigan, is deploying electronic prescribing technology to its 1,700 private practice doctors. United Physicians selected Rockville, Md. -based DrFirst and its Rcopia electronic prescription management tool for the e-prescribing rollout. The project is modeled on the Southeast Michigan e-Prescribing Initiative (SEMI), which was launched in 2005. SEMI members Health Alliance Plan and Henry Ford Medical Group are assisting the United Physicians effort"
E-prescriptions save time, paper
The News Journal - Wilmington,DE,USA
... Tests have shown that electronic prescribing systems also save patients and insurers money because they encourage greater use of generic drugs, by pointing out ...
And the Winner Is ... Everyone
A two-year old e-prescribing program blossoms into a statewide initiative that may be the model for other states wanting to improve patient safety.
Insurer prescribes error cure: BlueCross begins program to improve medication safety
By Curtia James, Delaware State News
Primary Health Inc., a Boise insurance company, and members of a physicians group in Idaho are testing (Rcopia) a new electronic prescription program. The program should reduce medication errors by allowing doctors to send prescriptions directly to a pharmacy from a computer.
The prescriptions are typed, not handwritten in unreadable scrawl. And the software checks for patient allergies and any drug interactions.
DrFirst inks deal for e-health services in New England
New England Docs to Get eRx
(July 19, 2006) An initial group of 100 physicians in the New England Quality Care Alliance will receive electronic prescription technology from DrFirst Inc., Rockville, Md.
Others to Watch
The following companies are worth keeping an eye on during the coming year. by Mark Hagland
DrFirst
Founded in 2000, Rockville, Md.-based DrFirst describes its flagship product, Rcopia, as a "full-featured stand-alone electronic prescription management system." The e-prescribing solution is gaining traction in various corners of the industry, including being part of a major Massachusetts health insurer-sponsored e-prescribing initiative. What's more, DrFirst's executives have created partnerships with major vendors such as SureScripts, RxHub, and FirstDataBank. And the company has won numerous awards, including at the TEPR (Towards the Electronic Patient Record) conference and from San Antonio, Texas-based Frost & Sullivan.
Patient Safety
e-Rx Takes Off in Massachusetts
Putting Meat on the e-Prescribing Bone
Maryland-based CareFirst re-ups for a second year of e-prescribing for its network physicians.
Electronic prescribing needs standardization before it's adopted by the masses. Start with the format of formulary databases.
Formulary Standards Key To E-Prescribing Success
The e-prescribing movement is getting some new advocates --employers. Can the combined influence of plans, employers, and the government affect physician buy-in?
Health Plans, Employers Join Forces To Promote E-Prescribing
Delaware E-Prescription Pilot Program Aims To Reduce Drug Errors
The Delaware News Journal on Tuesday examined an electronic prescription pilot program in Delaware that aims to reduce medication errors.
Device ensures accurate prescriptions- Electronic assistant eliminates need to decipher doctors' handwriting
"To help address error issues, Delaware's Office of Management and Budget and the Medical Society of Delaware have teamed up to launch a pilot program that will put the Rcopia electronic prescription system in the hands of 100 physicians across the state. The program began Sept. 26, and so far about 60 doctors have signed up. After one year, results of the program will be evaluated, and participating physicians will be able to renew their device licenses at a discounted rate. The Rcopia system, designed by Rockville, Md.-based DrFirst Inc., essentially replaces the familiar pen-and-pad method. Rcopia uses a PDA-style device that allows physicians to enter prescription information and send it directly to a pharmacy fax machine via an Internet or wireless phone connection. It also has the capability to link up with an office's electronic medical records system.The system has been a big hit, said Dr. Ronald Travitz of Blue Heron Medical Group in Salisbury, Md., who started using Rcopia in November after 18 years in practice."
Health Insurers Seen Benefiting From E-Prescribing
By Ara C. Trembly
For that reason, CareFirst is among the companies moving toward electronic prescription management or e-prescribing. Through the use of a personal digital assistant (PDA) supplied by Owings Mills, Md.-based CareFirst, DrFirst's Rcopia software allows the physician to transmit a prescription or renewal electronically to the patient's pharmacy, says CareFirst. The system also gives physicians access to a patient's medication history and allergies, and will alert doctors to potentially dangerous drug-to-drug interactions.
As Medicare Prepares for E-Prescribing, Insurers Are Already Funding Pilot Programs
"Several insurers are validating this idea by funding programs to arm all or a portion of their network physicians with e-prescribing tools. Both Kaiser Permanente and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, for example, have implemented pilot programs with Rockville, MD-based DrFirst, Inc., to use its Rcopia electronic prescription management system."
Maryland doctors keeping 'digital assistants' for another year
Maryland health insurer CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield has announced that a pilot program in which doctors are given handheld computers to write electronic prescriptions will be extended for another year.
CareFirst/DrFirst Winners of the 2005 - 3rd annual 3G A-List Awards - 9/27/05
QUALCOMM is proud to announce the 3rd annual 3G A-list awards honoring mobility at work. The A-List Awards recognize the leading builders of successful wireless data solutions based on 3G CDMA (CDMA2000 1X, EV-DO, and WCDMA/UMTS) technology. A-List solutions demonstrate creativity and exceed business objectives by introducing higher ROI, lower operating expenses, or increased user satisfaction.
Physicians at Providence Medical Group, Dayton, Ohio, will use electronic prescribing software from DrFirst Inc. as part of a study to evaluate the impact of electronic prescribing on patient safety. The study will be funded through a grant from the Ohio Medical Quality Foundation, Athens.
Health IT Winners Are Familiar Names
By
M.L. Baker, Ziff Davis Internet
Other e-prescription honors went to Rcopia, a system by DrFirst Inc., and Allscripts Healthcare Solutions' By
TouchWorks Rx, both of which received honors last year as well.
Henry Ford launches e-prescribing initiative
DETROIT - 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.
Fallon gets electronic prescription system
WORCESTER --DrFirst, provider of products and services for the health-care community, announced that it is exclusively hosting Fallon Community Health Plan's formulary. Through DrFirst Rcopia, Massachusetts' physicians will have access to formularies for the state's four largest health insurers. This agreement will allow FCHP's 12,000 contracted doctors and 41 hospitals to utilize DrFirst's Rcopia Electronic Prescription Management program, which is endorsed by the Massachusetts Medical Society. DrFirst Rcopia offers an end-to-end electronic prescribing system that integrates patient eligibility and formulary information with medication history at the point of care. The system allows the physician to transmit the prescription electronically to the pharmacy of the patient's choosing.
Managed Care Organizations Use Financial Incentives, Partnerships to Boost MD's EPrescribing Utilization
Medicare's ePrescribing requirements likely will serve as an incentive for more insurers to launch programs, predicts Mike McClure, senior VP of sales and marketing at DrFirst. Insurers planning to offer Medicare Advantage drug plans or Prescription Drug Plans under Part D may regard an ePrescribing initiative for the commercial population as "part of the prep" he says.
Blues Plan Offers e-Rx to More Docs
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts soon will offer electronic prescription software to 600 more of its physicians. The Boston-based payer announced it would expand its electronic prescription initiative after conducting a study in February with physicians already using the technology...
A Two-Party Line - E-prescribing has gotten faster and soon will be smarter.
For physician practices, financial payback depends heavily on prescription volume. But in the past, doctors have seen little reason to give up the convenience of scribbling a prescription on a paper pad and handing it to the patient or office assistant.
"If you're a neurosurgeon, you're not prescribing a lot of drugs," says Thomas E. Sullivan, immediate past president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, Waltham, and now chief strategic officer for DrFirst, a Rockville, Md., e-prescribing software vendor. "But anybody who takes care of patients with diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, or diseases of the stomach and colon tends to be a high-volume prescriber. For them it [e-prescribing] streamlines the prescription process."
"DrFirst lands deal worth $1M in Michigan...DrFirst beat out several other software makers for the Henry Ford sale. Competitors include Pasedena, MD based RxNT, NY based HealthRamp, and Chicago based AllScripts...Meanwhile DrFirst continues to land clients as demand for electronic prescribing picks up. Among its customers are CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, Kaiser Permanente, and Medstar Health."
Electronic Prescribing Gaining Momentum
The project is called the eRx Collaborative, and from October 2003 through the end of 2004, nearly 2,700 physicians and their clinical staff members signed up to participate in the project. At the end of last year, more than 1,500 doctors had incorporated the technology into their practices. The collaborative plans to cover the costs of the e-prescribing technology through the end of this year.This year, physicians will also be able to choose to use DrFirst Inc.'s Rcopia electronic prescription management program.
E-Script Program Gets New Vendor
(January 27, 2005) DrFirst Inc., Rockville, Md., has become the second vendor of electronic prescription software to join the eRx Collaborative program in Massachusetts. The program now will expand choices with the addition of DrFirst's Rcopia software. Physicians can use the software via the Web on desktop, laptop and Tablet PCs, was well as PDAs.
DrFirst is joining the eRx Collaborative to offer its e-prescribing program to physicians with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Tufts HP and Neighborhood Health Plan..
Firms Want e-Scripts, but Docs Pay
Henry Ford Health System in Detroit is the pilot site for the initiative and is using DrFirst's Rcopia e-prescribing software. About 25 physicians went live in January and the four-hospital delivery system expects 100 users by the end of the first quarter.
DrFirst inks deal for e-health services in New England
Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System has begun implementing electronic prescribing software from DrFirst Inc., Rockville, Md. The delivery system plans to offer the Rcopia software to 1,600 clinicians at its hospitals, ambulatory centers and group practice.
Henry Ford Health System Selects DrFirst Rcopia E-Prescribing Solution
Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance
DrFirst, the award-winning provider of electronic prescribing software, announced today that Henry Ford Health System has chosen Rcopia ePrescribing to improve patient safety and reduce prescription-related costs. Henry Ford Health System, one of the country's largest health care systems, plans to provide the DrFirst Rcopia(SM) electronic prescription management solution to 100 physicians by the end first quarter, 2005. 25 physicians at four of the Henry Ford medical centers went live in January.
Auto Makers Join Forces With Michigan Health Plans and Physicians to Launch Sweeping E-Prescribing Initiative
American International Automobile Dealers Association
The nation's three largest automakers, General Motors , Ford Motor Company and DaimlerChrysler Corp. , and the International Union, UAW, have joined forces to launch a major quality initiative aimed at addressing medication errors and the subsequent effect on health care quality and costs. As part of the Southeast Michigan initiative, Henry Ford Health System first implemented e-Prescribing in January 2005 through a collaboration with the Henry Ford Medical Group -- an 800-member group practice -- and its insurance arm, Health Alliance Plan (HAP). With technology already in place for 25 physicians, Henry Ford Medical Group anticipates more than 100 physicians will be utilizing the DrFirst Rcopia e-Prescribing software by the end of March.
About 25 doctors with Henry Ford Health System began using the new program [Rcopia] last month with support from its insurance arm, Health Alliance Plan. Doctors write the prescription on a personal computer or other wireless device and send it directly to the pharmacy for filling.
About 6,500 doctors are expected to join the initiative at first. Participating doctors will be encouraged to use it with all of their patients.
".On Friday, February 4, the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare, a Washington-based coalition of health insurers, released results of a pilot project using DrFirst, Inc's Rcopia in the Washington, DC region. More than 400 of the 125,000 electronic prescriptions written generated a serious drug interaction on which prescribers acted. Furthermore, there was an estimated $100,000 in savings from reduced hospitalizations and ER visits, and an average savings of $29 per fill for prescriptions to comply with formulary. As with all other studies on ePrescribing, there was a documented reduction in telephone calls between prescribers and pharmacists..."
DrFirst, Inc. Joins eRx Collaborative; Collaboration with DrFirst, Inc. Anticipated to Expand Electronic Prescribing Adoption among Prescribers
The Massachusetts Medical Society represents a growing number of physicians who will utilize the broad pharmacy connectivity offered by electronic prescribing in their clinical decision making for patients, all while reducing the administrative workload related to ordering and dispensing prescriptions among physicians and pharmacists. To encourage adoption among physicians, members of the Massachusetts Medical Society will receive discounts on DrFirst products.
Mass. Medical Society Teams with DrFirst on E-Prescribing
by Jeff Berman, Health-IT World
The
Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) has rolled out electronic prescribing technology to Massachusetts physicians in a partnership with DrFirst, a provider of electronic healthcare solutions for physicians and hospitals. Up to 1,000 MMS physicians (its membership is 18,000) will write prescriptions electronically with Rcopia, DrFirst's e-prescription service.
".Separately, the Big Three are expected to announce this week that they will work together to build an electronic-prescription system (Rcopia) for roughly 6,000 Michigan doctors. The system is expected to make it less cumbersome for doctors to write prescriptions and to help avoid errors. It also will search for generic equivalents of brand-name drugs. Prescription-drug costs, one of GM's most expensive health-care items, are rising by more than 15% a year."
E-Script Pilot Releases Findings
(February 01, 2005) More than 400 of 125,000 electronic prescriptions written during a year-long pilot study generated serious drug interaction or allergy warnings that prescribers acted upon, according to study sponsors.
About 100 physicians in the Washington, D.C. region participated in the study using free electronic prescribing software from DrFirst Inc., Rockville, Md. Other study sponsors were Medstar Health, a Columbia, Md.-based delivery system; Safeway Inc., a Tempe, Ariz.-based chain of grocery stores/pharmacies; and the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare (CAQH), a Washington-based coalition of health insurers.
Other study results included:
- An estimated $100,000 in savings from reduced hospitalizations and emergency room visits because of drug interaction and allergy warnings.
- Average savings to health plans of $29 per fill for prescriptions changed to comply with the formulary.
- Reduced telephone calls between prescribers and pharmacists.
"... There's finally some evidence that shows the benefits of electronic prescribing.
A yearlong study conducted by four local organizations found that last year in the District more than 400 potentially life-threatening drug errors were caught and fixed before prescriptions were filled because doctors wrote and sent the prescriptions using computers.
About 100 doctors participated in the pilot program using software developed by Rockville-based DrFirst. Other members of the pilot were the D.C.-based Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare, Columbia-based MedStar Health and grocery store Safeway.
Catching drug errors before they occurred resulted in estimated savings of $100,000 in 2004. Study participants say if electronic prescribing were applied nationally, the savings could reach millions of dollars each year.
But many doctors remain skeptical about writing prescriptions like this because it costs money to buy new technology. Besides, some aren't convinced it's more effective than pen and paper. Supporters of the new way, however, are hopeful that more hard evidence will make it an easier pill to swallow." [Neil Adler]
"After a shaky start, Massachusetts doctors are beginning to embrace a new way of getting medications to their patients: e-prescribing. Hospitals and doctors have been turning slowly to technology such as electronic medical records to make healthcare safer and more convenient for patients. And e-prescribing, which allows doctors to send prescriptions electronically over a wireless network to the pharmacy rather than write them on paper, is attracting interest as a less expensive first step. DrFirst Inc., of Maryland, has sold its system to about 750 Massachusetts physicians. Doctors also said that e-prescriptions are more convenient for their patients because they don't have to bring a paper prescription to the pharmacy and wait for the pharmacist to fill it; they simply go pick it up their medication after the doctor sends the order. The Massachusetts Medical Society, an advocacy organization for the state's physicians, agreed to promote DrFirst's e-prescribing system, in return for the company's providing it to doctors at a steep discount, $150 to $250 a year. Health insurers are interested in paying for e-prescribing partly because the software checks whether the doctor has chosen the cheapest drug, and if not, suggests a lower-cost alternative, which could save insurers money on soaring drug costs. Zix also is struggling to get devices to doctors and convince them to set aside time for training; only about 600 of the 2,200 doctors with contracts are ready to e-prescribe. Dr. Alberto Sobrado, a Caritas Christi physician who practices in North Andover, started using the DrFirst system a year ago, and said doctors and nurses in his office now write 80 percent of prescriptions electronically."
A Case for ePrescribing
Twenty-one seconds is what it takes Peter N. Kaufman, MD., Chief Medical Officer with DrFirst, to write 3 prescriptions on his PDA (one a refill from the patient's list, one a new prescription from Dr. Kaufman's "Favorites" list, and one a prescription entered de novo). In just over 40 seconds, he can select a patient on his PDA, write those 3 prescriptions, and then send the prescriptions wirelessly into the computer system of the patient's pharmacy of choice. "If you look away, you might miss the transaction," he tells attendees at a physicians-only seminar. He can send a prescription remotely from any location that provides online telephone support.
While Dr. Kaufman has used the ePrescribing application for quite a while, he says he's not as proficient as physicians who use ePrescribing every day. "Physicians have little tolerance for technology that doesn't serve a purpose," he said.
Moving clinical staff into an ePrescribing environment is usually a two-step push-pull process. "One clinician or staff member is usually the "champion" and starts using the system, and a second observing the process signs on, sometimes becoming a more frequent user than the "champion" and encouraging the initial user to use it even more," Dr. Kaufman says."
"Whereas RxHub provides real-time, patient- specific information to organizations that have built real-time connectivity to them, InfoScan tends to get a deeper set of data from our clients," explains White.
"In addition to formulary status and relative price ranking for on-formulary drugs, we provide health plan policies for nonlisted and nonformulary drugs. We also have rules or criteria for prior authorization, health plan policies for classes of members and therapeutic guidelines. Tiered formularies are handled within the file, as well."
These data are displayed to the physician in a nonintrusive manner that doesn't slow the physician down when he or she is writing a prescription, says John Bartos, president of DrFirst, a vendor of prescribing and other electronic systems, which has a pilot program with CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield.
"We display formulary status up front, so the prescriber sees whether a drug is on-formulary or preferred before he or she makes the prescribing decision," says Bartos. "When a nonformulary drug is chosen, the physician can select from one of the displayed formulary alternatives or click 'prescribe anyway.' For deeper levels of information like prior authorization or step-therapy, we'd provide links that the physician could choose to access, or not. We also present an alert if there was a drug or allergy interaction."
Electronic Rx moves coast to coast
Rhode Island's project isn't the only high-profile test of e-prescribing. MedStar Health, a health system serving the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore region, began a one-year pilot in February to test a Web-based e-prescribing system from DrFirst, a Maryland-based health care technology vendor.
The system works like this: Doctors can gain instant access to formulary information from members of the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare, a not-for-profit group of health plans and networks. A physician also can check for allergy warnings, drug interactions and then transmit a secure message to the vendor, who then sends the prescription via a fax server, said Peter Basch, medical director of the e-Health Initiative for MedStar Health. Peter Kaufman, CMO for DrFirst, said the system can already transmit prescriptions directly to Giant supermarket pharmacies. The system will be live with CVS and/or Rite Aid pharmacies within the next few weeks, with other national chains to follow this fall, Kaufman said.
First quarter findings from the pilot showed that the system helped prescribers flag one of out 73 prescription orders as a significant mistake. About 25% of prescriptions also were changed to an in-formulary alternative, and 93% of prescriptions were either written as generics or changed to a generic, according to Basch.
DrFirst also scored a one-year deal with Kaiser Permanente for physicians in 29 medical centers in the Mid-Atlantic region to check for drug interactions, allergies and send prescriptions electronically. Physicians at Kaiser's Woodbridge, Va. office are using handheld computers to test the service, and more than 90% of the physicians in that office are using it, according to Kaufman.
Physicians and medical residents at Glenridge Medical Center in Maryland, the medical practice of Prince George's Hospital, are also using DrFirst's technology to check for drug interactions, create patient medication lists and order medications. The 50-physician practice has been doing e-prescribing for about a year, according to Caroline Samuels, acting medical director of the Glenridge practice.
These data are displayed to the physician in a nonintrusive manner that doesn't slow the physician down when he or she is writing a prescription, says John Bartos, president of DrFirst, a vendor of prescribing and other electronic systems, which has a pilot program with CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield.
E-prescribing systems are part of a national plan for creating infrastructure for health IT and are considered a relatively easy way to ease physicians into using interoperable health IT.
On the one hand, Subramany said, e-prescribing vendors may partner with Epocrates to provide clinical reference help. That could expand the number of users, particularly if physicians did not need to manually upload updates. On the other hand, e-prescribing companies might choose to write their own clinical reference applications and bundle it in with their own software. Subramany said he expected both scenarios to play out.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Loevner saw the rise of e-prescribing as a boon to business. "We are partnering with some e-prescription companies-DrFirst [Inc.].-so that we can integrate right into their product," he said. "We have a very recognizable brand, so most of the companies that are in the e-prescribing market want to work with us."
One physician who's starting to take advantage of this new approach is cardiologist Thomas E. Sullivan, immediate past president of the Massachusetts Medical Society. Sullivan, who uses the Rcopia e-prescribing program from DrFirst of Rockville, MD (and is a consultant to the firm), likes the two-way communications with pharmacies because it's faster and more efficient than the old way.
"It's cheaper than using my fax machine, and it provides an electronic turnaround for refills and queries," he says. "If there's a question for me, it'll come back on my computer. And when a patient calls the pharmacy and asks for a refill, the pharmacy sends me an electronic message, and as soon as I turn on my application, it comes up right in front of me and it's all written out.
The DrFirst system can be used on any Internet-connected device, and will also work if a doctor simply needs to fax the information...Physicians are finding that the e-prescribing system saves them time looking up drug coverage information and making prescription adjustments. It enables them to prescribe the most appropriate drugs, and also reduces the phone time that their staffs need to spend working with pharmacies...(a) solution to reduce medication errors without overhauling a doctor's entire practice or making a major investment in new technology...Any physician should welcome a system that eliminates the potential for misinterpreted prescriptions, and that's exactly what this system does.
(Kaiser Permanente) chose DrFirst -- in part because of its capability to catch drug interactions and allergic reactions...using the software can save money for doctors and patients by checking to see if the prescribed medicine is covered by the patient's health care plan...The best thing about the partnership) it is the safety piece
DrFirst's hassle-free service will allow our pharmacists to spend more time counseling patients instead of spending time on the phone answering questions and processing prescriptions...This service offers convenience to the patient, prescriptions are sent electronically without mistake to the pharmacy and refills are requested automatically from the physician
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