Week 3 Assignment: E-Prescribing
E-prescribing is the transmission of prescription or prescription-related information using electronic media between a prescriber, dispenser, pharmacy benefit manager, or health plan, either directly or through an intermediary, including an e-prescribing network.
In an effort to understand the benefits and cautions about e-prescribing, conduct thorough research. For your assignment, create a 4- to 6-page report in Microsoft Word document consisting of your research findings covering your responses to the following questions:
- Evaluate three pros and three cons of e-prescribing.
- Summarize the e-prescription standards as described by the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs.
- Evaluate the projected cost and time savings as estimated by the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
- Comment on the controversy surrounding the 2013 e-prescribing penalty.
Use the following resources, and 2 outside resources and your text book for this assignment.
- Ratanawongsa, N., Lenny L. S. Chan, Fouts, M. M., & Murphy, E. J. (2017). The challenges of electronic health records and diabetes electronic prescribing: Implications for safety net care for diverse populations. Journal of Diabetes Research, 2017 doi:10.1155/2017/8983237
- Juszczyk, D., Charlton, J., McDermott, L., Soames, J., Sultana, K., Ashworth, M., . . . Gulliford, M. C. (2016). Electronically delivered, multicomponent intervention to reduce unnecessary antibiotic prescribing for respiratory infections in primary care: A cluster randomized trial using electronic health records-REDUCE trial study original protocol. BMJ Open, 6(8) doi:http://dx.doi.org.southuniversity.libproxy.edmc.edu/10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010892
Support your responses with examples in a 4-6 page APA formatted Word Document. Include an introduction and conclusion. Cite any sources in APA format.
Sample Answer
E-prescribing
E-prescribing has become common and is increasingly implemented in clinical settings with the aim of reducing medication-related errors and risks and enhancing patient safety. The E-prescribing system enhances medication-related interactions between healthcare professionals. Physicians can utilize the system to send patients’ prescriptions to designated pharmacies electronically. The system has its pros and cons, and healthcare professionals are governed by certain standards that must be adhered to by all. The purpose of the assignment is to respond to thorough research. Responses include an evaluation of three pros and cons of e-prescribing, e-prescribing standards, the projected cost and time savings, and a comment on the controversy surrounding the 2013 e-prescribing penalty.
Three Pros and Three Cons of E-Prescribing
E-prescribing is implemented to improve outcomes and increase efficiency by influencing prescription behavior. According to Juszczyk et al. (2016), interventions to modify prescribing patterns and behavior in primary care have proven effective. E-prescribing is associated with various benefits to healthcare professionals, patients, and healthcare facilities. Three pros of e-prescription include cost savings, a reduction in prescription errors, and enhanced workflow. E-prescribing reduces medication errors common in hand prescriptions, including mix-ups and errors arising due to poor handwriting. The system reduces errors resulting from misinterpretation and omission of critical information. Fatal mistakes resulting from the errors are minimized and eliminated. With e-prescribing, providers receive cost-effective therapy alerts and recommendations, while patients benefit from e-prescribing software. Reduced medication errors decrease costs such as hospitalization care for patients with complications. E-prescribing also reduces out-of-pocket costs for patients by availing of costs and formulary readily available (Ratanawongsa et al., 2017). E-prescribing enhances workflow, especially the ability to enter orders while in and outside the hospital facilities. Studies indicate that healthcare providers perceive the introduction of e-prescribing to have a positive impact on their workflow (Mohsin-Shaikh et al., 2019). This is especially when they have adequate training to use the system.
Three cons of e-prescribing include adverse effects on patients due to inaccurate selection of patients from the electronic list, interfacing problems between pharmacies and the physicians, and alert fatigue. Selecting the wrong patient’s name from the electronic list may cause an adverse impact on the patient due to the wrong medication. The mistake may only be noted when the patients report to the hospital due to health complications increasing the risk of severe and long-term complications and even death. The EHR may increase errors in medication selection as prescribers may obtain searches of similar medication names with proximity increasing the risk of selecting the wrong medication. Interfacing challenges may also arise from system failure causing delays in patient prescriptions. It may also lead to alert fatigue among the health care providers leading to increased errors in operations. The cons can, however, be addressed by putting proper policies and motivation strategies in place to reduce the adverse impacts on patients and healthcare providers.
The E-prescription Standards as Described by the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP)
NCPDP is a non-profit organization responsible for standardizing the exchange of healthcare information among healthcare professionals to improve outcomes while decreasing costs. One of the standards is the SCRIPT standard used in the transmission of electronic prescriptions from a health care provider or physician to the pharmacy. The standard pertains to request for new prescriptions, canceling of a prescription, change of a prescription, refill or renewal, exchange of medication history, fill status notification, query functions, and drug administration exchange that takes place in long-term care. The ASC X12N-2701/271 Eligibility and Benefit Standards apply in eligibility and benefits communication between professionals, institutions, dentists, and health plans. The telecommunication standard as stated by the NCPDP applies to eligibility communications and data sharing between pharmacy benefit management companies and retail pharmacy dispensers. The Formulary and Benefit standard issues physicians with patients’ benefits information at the point of care. The standard requires physicians to relay information through technology vendor systems. The physician is expected to consider certain information to make the most appropriate choice when prescribing drugs. According to the standard, basic business operations, including communication related to prescription and medication history, can be handled electronically (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, n.d). The standards have enhanced the pharmacy industry’s transformation, facilitating cost-saving while increasing patient safety and improving the quality of care.
The Projected Cost and Time Savings as Estimated by the United States Department of Health and Human Services
The projected cost savings are based on the average cost for private insurers. The estimated cost savings of fully adopting an e-prescribing system with FDS is $3.91 million per 100,000 patients (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2009). The cost savings would result from informing physicians about the cost and clinical features of the medication options at the point of prescribing to facilitate the selection of the best and most affordable drugs facilitating the prescription of more generic drugs. Providing the physicians with the medication history of the patients would also facilitate cost savings by reducing harmful drug interactions. The cost savings would also stem from physicians’ notification of pharmacy options, including retail drug stores and mail-order stores curbing out-of-pocket costs for patients while reducing waiting times related to illegible handwriting due to transmission of prescriptions electronically to the pharmacies.
