e-Prescribing has been gaining lot of momentum worldwide. While US has been the early adopters of e-Prescriptions, primarily because of the well-known incentive program from HITECH act; European market has also seen significant momentum. Undoubtedly, e-Prescribing is an important technology revolution towards a connected and automated health system. There are many e-Rx installations that are happening in private space in India.
e-Prescribing or how we commonly use “e-Rx” is the electronic way of submitting prescriptions to a pharmacy mail-order system before the prescription goes for dispatching. It not only makes the patient’s life easier, it actually is a big step towards patient’s safety, as it simply reduces the medication errors.
The core of the system is the Rx Transaction Hub that keeps track of patients and their medical record using a Master Patient Index (MPI) along with a list of pharmacies; Transaction hub plays a vital role in routing the prescriptions to desired location.
While for pharmacies it is vital to enroll in such e-Rx programs for the maximum benefit, it is equally important for e-Rx providers to make it affordable for smaller pharmacies. Undoubtedly, more the pharmacies enrolling into the e-Rx providers, more is the benefit patients will get.
Thinking beyond I feel, e-Prescribing should be promoted strongly by national initiatives that can help in transforming the health systems. If it calls for a reform in health system!!! Let it be!
