Blue Cross goes after doctors’ bad handwriting
Seeking to reduce the number of prescription errors caused by illegible handwriting, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island (BCBSRI), Rhode Island Primary Care Physicians Corporation, ePhysician, and PharmaCare have begun an electronic prescription program with 42 primary care physicians in Rhode Island. As part of the six-month pilot program, BCBSRI is providing Palm handheld devices and the first six months of the monthly ePhysician subscription fee at no cost.
At the end of the trial period, participating physicians will keep the Palm devices and may opt to continue in the program by assuming the monthly fee. This program, part of Project BluePrint, has the support of the Rhode Island Department of Health and the Rhode Island Board of Pharmacy. Research has shown that electronic prescribing can cut medication errors by 55%, says Stuart Weisman, MD, ePhysician’s CEO.
ePhysician Practice allows pharmacists to read prescriptions correctly and check for drug-drug interactions, thus alleviating guesswork and ultimately reducing medical errors. Once the prescription is entered into the handheld device, it is sent electronically to the ePhysician server via a quick, secure Internet connection. The information is rapidly processed and sent through the server on a secure connection to the patient’s pharmacy by fax. Albert Puerini, MD, president of Rhode Island Primary Care, says the system can be a tremendous improvement over handwritten prescriptions.
"With this program, we increase the legibility of prescriptions, reduce time-consuming phone calls to pharmacies, instantly monitor drug interactions, and reduce waiting time at pharmacies for our patients," he says.
While the main goal is legibility of prescriptions, the ePhysician Practice application also provides physicians with a software program that contains information on drug-drug interactions and updated formulary information. The software also will enable the physician’s office to review a patient’s prescription if the doctor is out of the office. At the physician’s office, patients will have the option of getting a paper copy of their prescription.
In compliance with current regulations, physicians will not transmit prescriptions for Schedule II controlled substances through the ePhysician system. They still must be handwritten.
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