The ability to electronically send accurate, error-free, and understandable prescriptions right to the pharmacy has revolutionized how medical practices operate. As a result, dispensing care has never been as efficient or cost-effective, and patients feel safe and secure about the medicines they are taking.
Still, everything moves at a quicker pace, and e-prescribing platforms have many more benefits added to them than just being able to send prescriptions electronically. Learn how you can take that step to leverage e-prescribing to optimize your practice this year in 2023.
Streamline Your Medical Practice Operations
Once upon a time, prescription pads were written out in illegible handwriting and taken to the pharmacy to decipher. If the pharmacist wasn’t sure what needed to be filled, they might have had to call the point-of-care office to confirm the intended prescription, stopping the operations of both the pharmacy and the point-of-care office. By streamlining the prescription process, you can help more people in less time.
Transmitting Prescriptions for Your Patients Electronically
With the ability to e-prescribe, your prescriptions are easy to fill without errors and operational downtime. In addition, comprehensive e-prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS) becomes available, furthering patient safety.
Using Electronic Means for Prior Authorizations
Here’s another way to streamline operations. When prescribing medicines, the requirement is to obtain approval from a health plan before the drug can be prescribed. Prior authorizations have gotten easier with e-prescribe platforms because they are done electronically rather than through fax machines.
A study performed by RTI International compared the times it took for providers using electronic prior authorization platforms to those requesting prior authorizations manually. RTI found that the median time between submitting a request and receiving a decision was three times faster using the electronic method. In addition, the study found that it took a median time of 5.7 hours using EPA compared to 18.7 hours for manual requests.
Make it Easier to Provide Thorough Care
E-prescribe systems can streamline your medical practice operations and help provide organized, accurate care to relieve patients of their symptoms more efficiently. The ability of e-prescribe systems to work with other tools will accomplish this goal.
E-Prescribe Systems and EHR Systems Working Together
While e-prescribe systems are operated in stand-alone systems for outpatient settings, they can also be incorporated into electronic health record (EHR) systems, which would provide patient information, including:
- Clinical notes
- Clinical decision support functions
- Laboratory orders and results
- All patient information, not just prescription information
- Patient histories
- Diagnoses
- Medication information
Get a free demo of NewCrop today!
Drug Review and Interaction Analysis Tools
E-prescribe platforms include a drug review and interaction checking service that helps avoid adverse reactions from medicines. The service allows functionality checks of chosen medications for drug-to-drug, drug-to-allergy, and drug-to-disease interactions. It can also check for the duplication of treatments and doses.
An extensive medical library or doctor’s reference desk is available with e-prescribe platforms. Clinical drug resources and clinical decision support tools are available at your fingertips, such as:
- Calculators
- Identifiers
- Interactions and overdose assessments
- Patient education resources
These tools at your disposal to consult on a moment’s notice will make providing thorough care to your patients more manageable.
Keep Your Patients Safe with Error-free Prescriptions
In the United States, an estimated 200,000 deaths occur annually from medical mistakes that could have been prevented. Errors in prescribing and filling medications are the most common type of medical errors.
E-prescribe vs. Paper
A study was done between medical providers who used e-prescribe methods and those who still used paper prescriptions. For those that adopted the e-prescribe methods, the error rates decreased from 42.5 per 100 prescriptions to 6.6 per 100.
E-prescribe Without EHR Support
Outpatient or ambulatory care facilities are the most common places that generate prescription errors. These facilities can include:
- Medical offices
- Clinics
- Ambulatory surgery centers
- Hospital outpatient departments
- Dialysis Centers
Errors in prescribing the medication, dispensing the drug, and monitoring how the medication is taken may have occurred because the e-prescribe system did not have the added benefit of clinical decision support tools.
Another study observed an academic-affiliated ambulatory clinic that enhanced its e-prescribe system with clinical decision support. The study found that prescribing error rates decreased from 35.7 per 100 prescriptions to 12.2 per prescription after a year of e-prescribing.
Patient Satisfaction and Retention
Addressing your patients’ needs efficiently and safely will increase patient satisfaction and retention. Using e-prescribe will benefit your patients in the following ways:
- Convenience
- Safety
- Quality
- Lower costs
The convenience of patients not having to take time to call their provider when the medication or dosage they receive needs to be corrected is something that patients can be satisfied with. The security of knowing that the electronic process of getting the drug prescribed and filled adds to the satisfaction that their health needs are being met safely.
And yes, e-prescribing does lower costs for patients. Not only will adopting e-prescribe lower the overall cost to the healthcare system by reducing errors, but it will also reduce costs for the patient’s own medication expenditures. The medical provider can work with patients using the formulary function of the patient’s electronic medical records to find an alternative medication if the one the patient is taking is too expensive for the patient to afford.
How NewCrop Helps You Make the Most of E-Prescribe to Optimize Your Practice
So now that you know how e-prescribing can make your practice operate more efficiently and with fewer errors while helping more patients in less time, it’s time to take advantage of what an e-prescribe system can do for you. Since 2003, over 200 EHR partners have trusted NewCrop Rx electronic prescribing, and we can help you comply with EPCS mandates. Get fast and efficient electronic prior authorization that can be integrated with over 500 EHRs. Schedule a demo to learn more about optimizing your practice by leveraging E-prescribe.
