Many prescribers view the New York State E-Prescribing Mandate as unnecessary and do not understand how the New York Government could pass such legislation. The legislation calls for all prescriptions of non-controlled and controlled substances to be transmitted to pharmacies electronically. This means, all prescribing physicians, including those who are retired, need to have an e-Prescribing solution in place and be registered with the Health Commerce System (HCS) if they plan on writing compliant prescriptions. What these prescribers don’t see are the undeniable benefits of e-Prescribing and how they are improving medical care.
Even though New York is the first state to require e-Prescribing, thousands of prescribers across the United States have already begun utilizing electronic prescribing and many states are beginning to pursue the same legislation as New York.
The U.S Department of Health and Human Services spelled out the top four clear benefits of e-Prescribing in the article What Are Some of the Benefits of E-Prescribing? RXNT finds its customers to experience these same benefits. Here are the top four:
- Improves patient safety and quality of care. It is no secret to anyone that doctors do not have the most legible handwriting, so it makes sense that pharmacists may not always read the correct medication or dosage. With RXNT|eRx, prescribers are required to enter in the medication, quantity and units. This eliminates the pharmacists having to decode a prescriber’s script.
- Reduces time on phone calls to and from pharmacies. There is no question that pharmacists must reach out to practices to confirm scripts and responding to outstanding prescription requests takes time. The MGMA discovered that these phone calls total about $20,000 annually per office. The solution to not losing money every year on phone calls? Electronic Prescribing.
- Increase patient convenience and medication compliance. Have you recently received a phone call from your pharmacy after you have refilled a prescription? Imagine not even refilling a prescription and receiving a notice that your prescription is ready for pick-up. Well, that is what e-Prescribing can do.
RXNT|eRx has a “Refills” option directly on their prescription request screen. Doctors can enter, on the spot, the number of refills needed without having to call-in a new script.
4. Improves formulary adherence permits lower cost drug substitutions. Medications can be expensive, and some insurance companies do not cover certain meds. RXNT|eRx database has the ability to look up a patient, see what medications are covered by their insurance company, and if there is a generic version that they can prescribe. In a matter of seconds, patients know if the medications they are being prescribed are covered by their insurance company. This leaves no searching for the patient or doctor for a cheaper medication.
Although physicians may be unable to see the benefits of e-Prescribing because of the change they have to endure to adopt this new way of prescribing, the overall benefits prescribing electronically are indisputable. To learn more about the benefits of e-Prescribing with RXNT|eRx, contact us at 800-943-7968 Option 3 or email us at [email protected].