Q: What is Electronic Prescribing?
A: e-Prescribing is the use of healthcare technology to improve prescription accuracy, patient safety and costs. This is achieved by providing prescribers a secure means of electronically incorporating patient medical information with health plan formulary, patient eligibility and medication history at the point of care. The result is efficient prescribing processes with more accurate medication orders and less manual intervention with the prescription being electronic sent directly to the patient’s pharmacy of choice.
Q: What is ePrescribe Florida?
A: ePrescribe Florida is a collaborative framework of industry stakeholders working together to help accelerate physician adoption of electronic prescribing by fostering cooperation and coordination among prescribing constituents.
Q: Why is ePrescribe Florida a collaborative?
A: ePrescribe Florida came about through the recognition that in order to successfully accelerate the adoption of this critical technology, all prescribing stakeholders; physicians, payers, employers, pharmacies, hospitals, regional quality and safety organizations, and vendors must work together.
Q: How did ePrescribe Florida get started and how long has it existed?
A: ePrescribe Florida grew out of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida analysis that clearly concluded the benefits of electronic prescribing for all regional stakeholders. The first exploratory meeting was held with Florida’s largest health plans in December of 2006.
Q: What are the goals of ePrescribe Florida?
A: ePrescribe Florida seeks to increase patient safety and meet the needs of the Florida public, by establishing and promoting an understanding of the benefits and implementation of electronic prescribing. This will be achieved through educational and outreach programs and promoting health plan and other incentives for adopting e-prescribing technology.
Q: Why was this initiative started by health plans and not provider organizations?
A: It has long been recognized that the best approach to gaining market adoption and lessen provider confusion and implementation barriers, is a collaborative multi-payer approach that is uniformly supporting and promoting technology when leveraged across all stakeholders.
Q: Why is ePrescribe Florida outreaching to provider and pharmacy organizations now?
A: ePrescribe Florida was established with a clear roadmap of engagement starting with the largest health plans agreeing to collaborate with a common message and approach. Now accomplished, the next step is outreaching to provider and regional quality and safety organizations to work together to promote and support electronic prescribing.
Q: Who else will participate in the collaborative?
A: Plans are to outreach to regional health plans, Medicare and Medicaid; retail pharmacy organizations; providers and large care delivery organizations; employers; vendors who provide e-prescribing applications; pharmaceuticals; the Florida legislature and other stakeholders as identified by the prescribing community.
Q: Will ePrescribe Florida offer a product?
A: In the first phase of the initiative, the primary products are educational programs and tools that provide an informational resource so prescribers can understand the options and opportunities that exist at all levels of electronic prescribing. This includes drug reference applications, stand-alone e-prescribing applications, and electronic medical record systems that have an embedded electronic prescribing capability.
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