'Get Connected' Program Encourages Electronic Prescribing

On March 4, the AAFP and four other national physician organizations launched a new program designed to help physicians send prescriptions to pharmacies electronically. The "Get Connected" program features a Web site where physicians can assess their e-prescribing readiness and learn, step-by-step, what needs to be done to make e-prescribing a reality in their practices.

"This initiative focuses first and foremost on physicians who have the EHR (electronic health record) technology at their fingertips but aren't utilizing their e-prescribing functionality," said Steven Waldren, M.D., director of the AAFP's Center for Health Information Technology. In a press release announcing the new program, Waldren estimated that less than 30 percent of AAFP members who have fully implemented EHRs are electronically transmitting patients' prescriptions.

E-prescribing is viewed by many experts as a faster and more efficient means of prescribing, one that saves time and money and reduces prescription errors.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Cardiology, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and Medical Group Management Association, or MGMA, joined the Academy in launching the Get Connected program under the auspices of The Center for Improving Medication Management.

The five organizations joined forces last year to create the center in an effort to facilitate physicians' adoption and use of health information technology, particularly e-prescribing. The rollout of the Get Connected program marks one of the center's first major programs.

Two impending federal deadlines lend a sense of urgency to the e-prescribing program. Effective April 1 of this year, all Medicaid prescriptions must be written on tamper-resistant paper; however, the mandate does not affect electronically transmitted prescriptions, so e-prescribers needn't worry about tamper-resistance. In addition, effective Jan. 1, 2009, computer-generated faxed prescriptions will no longer be in compliance with Medicare requirements.

Kate Berry, executive director of The Center for Improving Medication Management, said physicians using EHRs often assume they are sending their prescriptions to pharmacies electronically. In reality, many of those physicians are using the EHR to do the prescribing, "but the computer is generating a fax," said Berry.

Through the program's Web site, physicians can determine if the software they're using complies with the new Medicare regulations.

Clearly, e-prescribing is inching closer to the top of the federal government's "must-do" list, and physicians need to prepare now, said Waldren. The Get Connected Web site leads physicians through a process designed to help them transition from paper-based prescribing to e-prescribing.

Physicians who have not yet invested in an EHR also can benefit from the Web site because they can access the latest recommendations on how to evaluate and purchase technology that supports e-prescribing.

Participants at the site work through a series of practice-related questions, after which the program will offer recommendations for action, said Waldren. For instance, the Get Connected Web site can help physicians

An interactive feature on the site also allows physicians to calculate the amount of time and resources their practices spend on phone and fax-based processing of prescription refill requests. According to an MGMA study cited in the press release, those costs can add up to as much as $15,700 a year for each full-time physician in a practice.

Berry, who also is senior vice president of business development at SureScripts (see sidebar), acknowledged that family physicians often treat patients with more than one chronic condition and juggle a variety of medications for those complex patients. "Family physicians are high(-volume) prescribers," said Berry. E-prescribing technology can create a complete prescription record for patients taking multiple prescriptions, and thus "helps family physicians manage their patients' prescriptions better," she said.

Berry also noted that many family physicians own small practices with tight budgets. She said the Get Connected program will give those practices a leg up -- helping them to better leverage their existing investment in an electronic system or ease into EHR territory with e-prescribing.