Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is making electronic prescribing more accessible to doctors in the state with Tuesday's launch of a new ePrescribing website.

Electronic prescribing allows physicians to input a patient's prescription into a hand-held device or computer and get immediate feedback about medical history and any possible drug interactions. The prescription can also be sent directly to a pharmacy, eliminating the need for paper prescriptions.

Dr. Scott Brundle of Alliance Family Practice was part of Blue Cross Blue Shield's year-long pilot program. Now he's never without his PDA.

"The biggest thing that it helps with is that it stores all the prescriptions in there that you've written before," he said. "So you have an instant record of every prescription you've written for that patient, when, what it was, what dose, what pharmacy you sent it to."

Brundle says getting rid of paper prescriptions is convenient for the patients, but it may also be safer. According to the National Institute of Medicine, 1.5 million Americans are injured each year by drug errors

Most happen because of illegible prescriptions. Raleigh pharmacist Mike James says hardly a day goes by that he doesn't have to call to verify a prescription.

"If there's an "i" there, that the "i" is dotted, it's important how that is written," he said. "In a lot of cases, if the doctor is in a hurry and he slides that or really doesn't write it distinctly, there may be a question in your mind."

Blue Cross Blue Shield is now helping doctors and pharmacists pay for the hardware to go electronic and providing free access to web-based software. The pilot program showed that as more doctors used ePrescribing, the potential for dangerous drug interactions was reduced. It also influenced doctor's choices for medication.

"We know that a significant number of prescriptions - 50 percent - are given a formulary message or a message that makes the physician know that there is a less costly alternative for the patient," said Ron Smith, BCBS Vice President of Employer Health and Corporate Pharmacy. "And we know that a significant amount of the time, they choose that alternative."

The site gives providers access to free Web-based ePrescribing software, vendor sources for discounted hardware (PDAs) and connectivity, and a variety of other ePrescribing technology options. As an additional incentive, BCBSNC is offering a one-time $1000 incentive to BCBSNC network providers who meet certain ePrescribing criteria. That's about one-third of what it costs for a doctor to go electronic.

Related Links

1. Physicians may access ePrescribe through this website.