Content about Electronic prescribing

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Relative to the national chains, independent pharmacies have limited resources and, given the importance and benefit of e-prescribing, further helping to facilitate the adoption of e-prescribing via grants — not to mention facilitating two-way communication between prescribers and pharmacists — is critical to help push overall adoption closer to the finish line.

NEW YORK The adoption of electronic health records, electronic prescribing and other health information technology isn’t just for regional and nationwide chains, but for small, independent pharmacies as well, and it’s something that needs to happen on a grand, nationwide scale.

NEW YORK CVS Caremark’s pilot program with BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey is yet another major step forward for e-prescribing, as it enables a new level of efficiency in the physician-pharmacy interaction.

The news that CVS Caremark and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey have reached 5.5 million e-prescriptions since 2004 is no doubt a major example of how providers are increasingly communicating electronically to advance patient care. What’s even more impressive, is the number of e-prescriptions jumped 20% in just one year from 2007 to 2008.

Once again, CVS Caremark has proven to be a leader and on the forefront of technology, this time with its proprietary iScribe e-prescribing system.

Michigan has long been regarded as one of the nation’s most proactive states in the push for adoption of e-prescribing, along with Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Nevada, Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio and Washington. The state is home to the Southeastern Michigan ePrescribing Initiative, or SEMI, whose goal is to prove that doctors would actually find paperless prescribing useful once they began working with it and incorporating it into their day-to-day routine.