FOCUS ON: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ELECTRONIC PRESCRIBING: AN UPDATE
January 2005 | Volume 4 | Issue 1 | Features | 106 | Copyright © January 2005
Mark D. Kaufmann MD
Abstract
Electronic prescribing has been gaining momentum with the passage of recent federal legislation. This article attempts to present
the current status of e-prescribing.“Electronic communications between physicians and pharmacists is being recognized as the new standard of practice in the health care industry,†said Kevin Hutchinson, SureScripts president and CEO.
I am not sure I would go that far yet, but electronic prescribing has come a long way since 1998 when Drs. Schiff and Rucker wrote in the American Medical News: “Physicians should never again write a prescription. Given the explosion of scientific information and advances in computer technology, prescribing medications on a blank piece of paper will soon seem as antiquated as ordering tinctures of botanicals in Latin.â€
The benefits of electronic prescribing have been, and continue to be, touted in many articles written, even in lay literature.