U.S. doctors turning to electronic prescribing
WASHINGTON, DC (Reuters) - Economic stimulus legislation making its way through the U.S. Congress includes about $20 billion to accelerate adoption of health information technology including electronic prescribing of drugs.
U.S. President Barack Obama has made e-prescribing an element of his plan to improve the U.S. healthcare system. Here are some facts about health information technology.
* E-prescribing replaces paper prescriptions. Instead, a doctor electronically transmits a prescription to the pharmacist.
* Electronic medical records replace paper records, which must be copied and mailed or taken by courier from one provider to another.
* Experts say using electronic medical records can reduce errors, improve coordination and cut administrative costs. One challenge is preserving patient privacy, and any system would have to be accessible to a variety of healthcare providers.
* Obama has pledged to spend $50 billion over five years to develop health information technology. Consulting firm Deloitte says the potential savings are $90 billion over 10 years.
* An estimated 12 percent of U.S. doctors -- about 70,000 -- use e-prescribing, double the figure from a year ago, e-prescription network SureScripts-RxHub said.
* Proponents say e-prescribing is more efficient and cuts down on medical errors, such as getting the wrong medication because of a doctor's poor handwriting or getting the wrong drug because it has a name similar to another one.
* Doctors using an e-prescribing system in which they are instantly notified about the price of drugs are more likely to prescribe less expensive generics, a study found.
* On January 1, Medicare, the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, began offering financial bonuses to doctors who use e-prescribing. Doctors who do not will face penalties from Medicare starting in 2012.
* The cost of software and training are a barrier to doctors who have not yet adopted e-prescribing, experts say. A coalition of healthcare and technology companies offers e-prescribing software from Allscripts to any doctor for free.
