Thursday, August 6, 2009

DEA Imposed Barrier to e-Prescribing


E-prescribing software has been free to physicians for some time now, yet many are hesitant to take that step. One reason for this is that the DEA prohibits e-prescribing controlled substances such as pain killers and antidepressants. Because of not allowing the ability to fully use an electronic prescribing system, physicians would have to use a paper prescription pad in addition to their e-Rx system for certain drugs. Simultaneously operating two systems for prescriptions is not only unwise, but terribly inefficient. One of the main reasons to adopt an e-Rx system is to increase patient safety.
According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, “E-prescribing can catch many dangerous mistakes, studies show. The software automatically checks a patient's drug history for potential hazards such as improper dosages, medication allergies and adverse interactions with other drugs the patient is taking. More than four billion prescriptions are written in the U.S. annually, and studies show that as many as 4% contain an error with serious patient risks.” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123249533946000191.html
Since one of the functions of the software is to check drug-drug interactions, if one drug is entered in a system and another is not, haven’t we just taken that safety opportunity away? To learn more about e-prescribing, visit http://learnabouteprescriptions.com/

If this issue becomes resolved in a timely manner, can we expect to see more physicians jumping into the world of e-prescribing?

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