...And E-Rx Is Available to Every Physician

The National ePrescribing PatientSafety Initiative (NEPSI), a coalition oftechnology and health care companies,recently launched an Internet-basedelectronic prescribing (e-prescribing) programthat physicians can access for free.

The backbone of the NEPSI program iseRx NOW Web-based software fromAllscripts. Designed to attract physiciansin solo practice or small groups, eRxNOW is available at no charge to anyhealth care provider with legal authorityto prescribe medications and requires nodownload, no new hardware, and minimaltraining.

The product can quickly generatesecure electronic prescriptions that canbe sent computer to computer or viaelectronic fax to 55,000 retail pharmaciesusing SureScripts. All scripts areinstantly checked for potentially harmfulinteractions with the patient's othermedications using a real-time completemedication database, as well as real-timenotification of insurance formulary statusfrom payers, plans, and pharmacy benefitmanagers. The product also allowsphysicians to search and find targetedhealth-related information for themselvesor patients using a custom searchengine from Google.