A Guide on ePrescribing for Healthcare Professionals: What, How, Why, How Much?

8 months ago

Well, you must already have an idea, in fact, you must have already experienced how difficult it gets to manage paper-based prescriptions. 

Thus, we are not going into the problem. 

Because what you don’t know or know partially is the solution. So, let’s discuss the solution! 

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What is e-prescribing?

Its name itself suggests everything. When a healthcare provider writes and transmits prescriptions electronically using either a mobile app, web app, or computer software, the process is called e-prescribing. 

While at first glance it seems a very simple process using any digital platform, there are a lot of things that happen in the background to create and transmit e-prescriptions from a doctor’s office to a pharmacy. 

After all, the entire concept of e-prescribing is to ease the prescription process while ensuring security and accuracy during a transition phase and zero medication error at the pharmacy front. 

The Most Basic Resource You Require to Offer e-prescription Service

You must have this question and it is very crucial too. 

The most basic yet important resource you would require to write an e-prescription and send it to the pharmacy is the digital solution in the form of either a mobile app, web app, or computer software. 

This digital solution is equipped with all the features required to write an e-prescription. It even allows providers to select medication from the list. 

Most importantly, this digital solution is integrated with the pharmacy management system (PMS) of pharmacies to directly share e-prescriptions with pharmacies.

How Does the e-prescribing Solution Work? - A Workflow 

New Prescription Workflow: 

Step #1: The doctor signs up or logs in to the e-prescribing solution. 

Step #2: Drug directory API is integrated with an e-prescription solution that enables doctors to ‘drag and drop’ the type of medication. 

Step #3: The doctor digitally signs the e-prescription.

(Authorized e-prescription automatically gets stored under each patient’s profile.)

Step #4: Thanks to the integration with the pharmacy management system, the pharmacy receives the e-prescription directly to its to-do list on PMS. 

Prescription Refill Workflow: 

Step #1: The pharmacy sends prescription refill requests to the doctor on behalf of the patient. 

Step #2: The doctor receives a refill request on its e-prescribing software. 

(Doctors cannot receive it on their EMRs as EMRs lack the capabilities to receive and share information outside of a fixed facility. The solution is a health report manager!)  

Step #3: The doctor validates the refill request and sends it back to the pharmacy. 

Step #4: The pharmacy receives it on its PMS with the doctor’s confirmation which they now can refill. 

Have you noticed here that there is no paperwork?

Everything you do is recorded online automatically for future needs. 

And most importantly, there are easy sharing capabilities between PMS and e-prescribing solutions! 

What are the Benefits of e-prescribing Software?

Well, if it did not deliver any value, we would never have invested our time writing a blog on it! 

The following are the top e-prescribing benefits. 

  • No faxing to the pharmacy 

Still, many providers send faxes of prescriptions to pharmacies.  

This not only wastes the time of providers but also adds burdens on the pharmacy as the pharmacy needs to properly manage and add the medication data printed into a fax to its PMS, all manually. 

But with e-prescribing software, every prescription gets shared with the pharmacy automatically and electronically. 

  • No medication error 

When a pharmacy receives prescriptions by fax or email, they need to manually enter data into PMS. 

And here is where there is a high chance of medication errors as data entry is a very tedious and error-sensitive task for humans. 

But in the case of the e-prescribing solution, it automatically adds medication data into the pharmacy’s PMS with the highest-ever accuracy. 

  • Patients’ medication history 

Because having a medication history of patients helps providers treat patients with enhanced patient outcomes, it is crucial to have an easily accessible medication or prescription history. 

However, you really can never be able to generate and manage the medication history of patients if you manage prescriptions on paper. 

But with e-prescribing software, it is easier than ever as it automatically saves each newly generated prescription under the patient’s profile which every authorized user can access. 

How Much Does e-prescribing Cost?

It depends on the type of e-prescribing platform you use. 

For instance, 

If you use 3rd party tool: 

It charges you either monthly or yearly based on either per prescription or fixed fee. 

And in return, they let you use certain features of their e-prescribing platform while platform ownership still remains theirs.

If you build your own platform: 

You need to hire a healthcare IT company to build an e-prescription solution as per your requirements and clinical workflows. 

Here, you enjoy full platform ownership and you don’t have to pay anyone monthly fees. 

Most importantly, it satisfies your precise needs as it is dedicatedly developed for you as per your requirements. 

Here is How We Can Help You Build Your Own Custom e-prescribing Solution Integrated with PMS

We're an Ontario-based healthcare IT company. 

You can also call us an IT company only serving the healthcare industry. 

In the last 7 years, we have worked with several healthcare organizations, providers, nursing homes, and pharmacies to build digital solutions for their needs. 

We have mastered healthcare mobile apps, web apps, and software development for every possible clinical challenge. 

Talking specifically about e-prescribing, our dedicated healthcare developers, designers, business analysts, and compliance specialists can brilliantly build an e-prescription platform that is compliant with all privacy laws and standards. 

Our healthcare integration skills make it a piece of cake for us to integrate e-prescribing software with the pharmacy management system for direct sharing.  

We have one unique skill as well. We know how to deliver peace of mind to our clients while they are going through the most difficult healthcare IT journey!