E-Rx: Benefits of electronic prescriptions
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E-Rx: Benefits of electronic prescriptions

Electronic prescriptions are yet another facet of EMR which can help streamline and revolutionize your practice. E-Rx works with AltaPoint and has various advantages over traditional written prescriptions; these advantages go beyond simply resolving issues of illegible handwriting.

Speed:

The traditional process of writing a prescription often begins with the pulling of a chart. However, since e-prescribing software gives you instant access to each patient’s medications and allergies, the necessity of pulling the chart is much reduced. This saves your staff time – and saves you money.


To write an e-prescription, you simply pull up the patient’s name on your screen and choose from menus of options to generate the prescription. Or, if the prescription is a refill, you just click the refill option. The program will then attach your electronic signature and fax the prescription for you to the patient’s pharmacy.

At this point, most physicians still fax their prescriptions to the pharmacies. However the latest trend is sending and receiving online. In other words, if you write a prescription, you send it to the pharmacy via email. And if a refill request is sent to you, it will come directly to your computer. This will speed up the process further, and make it even more accurate by eliminating any middlemen between you and the pharmacist.

Submitting via a clearinghouse:

To speed up the process a bit and avoid the occurrence of errors, many people submit claims via a clearinghouse. The clearinghouse option is very user-friendly; you must upload the file to the clearinghouse and wait one day, during which the clearinghouse will scrub your claims and send you an easy to read report detailing any errors in your claim. You then correct errors and the clearinghouse will submit your claims in the proper format. Besides scrubbing and submitting your claims, a clearinghouse also offers ECT tools that allow you to track you claims, so you know their status at all times. Although using a clearing house gives you a faster response than physically mailing in the claim, it is still time consuming. Moreover, you must operate via a middleman and pay monthly fees for the service.

Features:

E-Rx certainly speeds up the process of writing a prescription, but it has additional perks as well. The most important of these is the Drug Interaction feature. When you write a new prescription, the program automatically scans for any potential interaction between the new medication and the patient’s existing medications or allergies. It will not allow the new prescription to be written without a physician override. This feature can be a lifesaver.

In addition, you can print out information about any drug in the system and give it to the patient. This is a useful educational tool; having printed information available saves you time and also gives the patient a means of involvement in his/her own treatment.

Another helpful feature of E-Rx software is that it uses a service such as RxHub to give you access to various health plan formularies, to determine whether or not a certain drug is covered for your patient. This way, you can be sure that your patient’s medication will be covered before you prescribe it.

With E-Rx, you have produced a legible prescription, you have verified its eligibility with the patient’s health plan, and you have checked it for drug interactions and allergies. All of this will result in fewer mistakes and far fewer callbacks from pharmacies. Again, you are saving staff time and, of course, money.

Getting Started:

The cost of getting started with e-prescribing can be as low as $2,000 for the first year. After the first year, the cost will drop much lower. For programs such as Rcopia, the only hardware you need is a PC or a handheld device. If you have AltaPoint, you can use a PalmX. As for software, the fees for an E-Rx subscription are about $50 a month. There are other costs to keep in mind, such as implementation, support and wireless internet.

At this time, the government is encouraging the use of E-Rx. Many insurance carriers are therefore giving incentives to physicians who e-prescribe, such as free handheld PDA’s, Blackberry phones, or even one-year subscriptions to certain e-prescribing software.

Technology is changing the way physicians practice medicine; the changes will affect every aspect of your daily routine within your clinic, including the way you write a prescription. E-Rx is already in widespread use; to learn more about how your clinic in particular can benefit from this software, please contact Intuitive Solutions.

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Spotlight: Intuitive Solutions Technical Support Line

Last month we spotlighted our Help Desk. To further our level of customized support, we are pleased to announce a dedicated Tech Support line at 630.889.1018. You may email Tech Support as well, at

support@intuitivesolutions.net

We suggest that all physicians and office managers have an email address; technical support via email is a very quick and easy method, and is free to you even if you do not have a Tech Support subscription. We encourage you to take advantage of this option!

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