EHR-based ePrescribing may reduce prescribing error rate

Posted: 12/08/2011 5:03pm

(Updated:02/02/2012 6:11pm)

One of the reasons that FREE Electronic Health Records are such a great deal is that they can connect physicians to patients in new and productive ways. Likewise, EHR platforms can simplify the diagnosing and prescribing process, and maybe even prevent errors here and there.

Rx paper documents are rife with mistakes

That was the thrust of a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Weill Medical College of Cornell University suspected that EHR-based ePrescribing might reduce prescription errors, and they were right.

The team began by monitoring the prescriptions written by 30 different community-based, small-practice MDs. All Rx documents were paper-based.

Over the course of a year, the team documented thousands of prescribing errors. The rate of illegibility mistakes stacked up to an average of almost two per prescription!

Even without handwriting problems, errors are common

Scientists noted that even when you take away legibility errors, prescribing mistakes were still quite common. Get this: for every 100 paper-based prescription transactions the team monitored, they spotted roughly 37 errors not related to handwriting neatness.

Direction errors and faulty abbreviations were common. How can these be eliminated? The authors were blunt.

"The vast majority of errors could have been eliminated through the use of e-prescribing with clinical decision support," they concluded.

ePrescribing keeps things neat, has built-in checks and balances

What's so good about Mitochon Systems' ePrescribing tool? Well, consider this. More than 95 percent of U.S. pharmacies are already using electronic prescribing systems, which means less delivery-related muss and fuss for you and your patients.

Our ePrescribing system, which is powered by H2H Solutions, also has a number of features that automatically check prescriptions for errors. These include automated formulary checking and built-in alerts for potential allergies and drug interactions.

Not only that, but our ePrescribing tool is the ONLY one that allows you to share one medication list with other physicians who share a particular patient's case.

And the cost?

Act now, and you can register to use our ePrescribing tool for just $75 dollars, with a monthly rate of only $25. You'll be hard pressed to find better deal anywhere!

Think of it this way. Would you rather pay a small nominal fee now, or potentially deal with a crushing liability lawsuit later?

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