ISSUES

E-Prescribing

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PCMA's E-Prescribing Campaign

PCMA is committed to advancing the use of electronic prescriptions to dramatically improve safety and lower costs The Institute of Medicine (IoM) has reported that medication errors kill about 7,000 Americans annually and estimated that as many as 1.5 million harmful medication errors could be completely prevented each year. The Institute has called on physicians to adopt electronic prescribing by 2010 in order to help address this devastating problem. However, fewer than one-in-ten physicians currently use e-prescribing technology.

PCMA's New E-Prescribing TV Ad

Calling e-prescribing "the most important issue to patients in the current Medicare debate," PCMA has unveiled a new ad campaign urging policymakers to require the use of electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) in Medicare. The new ad is a “wake up” call to refocus the Medicare debate on patients, not just the providers who serve them. From a patient’s perspective, e-prescribing is by far the most important issue in the current Medicare debate. Read More

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What Is E-Prescribing?

E-Prescribing Consists of Four Main Elements:

Prescription Options: Full e-prescribing provides physicians with clinical and cost information on prescription options that allows them to better counsel consumers on which medications—including generic drugs—will be the safest and most affordable choices. This information is provided to prescribers in real-time by health plans and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs)

Patient Medication Histories and Safety Alerts: Comprehensive patient medication histories tell prescribers not only what they have prescribed, but what other doctors have prescribed. E-prescribing systems make this crucial information available to doctors in real-time so that they can help consumers avoid adverse outcomes from events such as drug-drug interactions. If such problems are detected, full e-prescribing systems automatically send prescribers electronic safety alerts before the prescription is sent to the pharmacy.

Pharmacy Options: Information on preferred pharmacy options—including both retail and mail-service options—tells prescribers which pharmacies will be least expensive for consumers in terms of out-of-pocket costs. Reduced out-of-pocket costs—particularly for Medicare beneficiaries with chronic conditions—have been shown to increase the likelihood that consumers will take their medication as prescribed.

Transmittal to Pharmacy: Electronic data entry and transmittal of the prescription to the pharmacy helps pharmacists to avoid transcription errors due to illegible handwriting. It also cuts down wait times for patients, since pharmacies can start processing prescriptions immediately after they are written.

PCMA actively supports the bipartisan “Medicare Electronic Medication and Safety Protection (E-MEDS) Act of 2007” introduced by Senate Finance Committee Members John Kerry (D-Mass.) and John Ensign (R-Nev.). Companion legislation was introduced in the House by Representatives Allyson Schwartz (D-Penn.) and Jon Porter (R-Nev.). This legislation, which would require e-prescribing in Medicare, enjoys support from a broad coalition of consumers, unions, businesses, purchaser groups, and other prescription drug stakeholders.

	E-Prescribing Gains Momentum in Congress View the Video
	PCMA E-Prescribing TV Ad featuring Institute of Medicine (IOM) expert panelist J. Lyle Bootman View the video
	PCMA’s New Print Ad: E-Prescribing is Ready Now Download
	PCMA E-Prescribing Print Ad Download
	New Photo Gallery: The PCMA/RxHub E-Prescribing Symposium HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, Senator John Kerry, and the founder of the Center for Health Transformation Newt Gingrich addressing PCMA/RxHub’s recent E-Prescribing Symposium. View the Gallery

Senator John Kerry on PCMA’s E-Prescribing Leadership

As a leading voice for electronic prescriptions, Senator Kerry comments underscore the important role PCMA is playing in the fight to eliminate medication errors and lower costs through e-prescribing. Read Congressional Record

Gorman Health Group E-Prescribing Study

Read the Study

National Survey of Physicians Regarding E-Prescribing

Read the Survey Results

Research

No Research for this category in 2010

Press Releases

January 2010

01.21.2010

PCMA Statement: Wrong Time for Congress to Experiment On The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program

01.05.2010

PCMA: Proven PBM Tools Help Drive Historic Slowdown in Prescription Drug Spending

View all E-Prescribing press releases | View all press releases

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