Cutting the Cost of Health Care with Electronic Prescription Systems

Medication errors in the United States cost hospitals and insurance companies billions of dollars every year. Each year written prescription errors cost thousands of Americans their life. Medication errors are costly to the healthcare system and the implementation of the electronic prescription system in hospitals and physician offices is sporadic. The government has implemented many incentive programs to encourage hospitals and private practices to adopt the use of electronic prescription systems. The introduction of the electronic prescription has reduced medication errors in hospitals and physician’s practices cutting the cost of health care.
The current system of hand written prescription has proven to be an expensive multitude of adverse medication errors costing the healthcare system and especially Medicare billions of dollars. Illegible hand written prescriptions is estimated to have cost $3.5 billion annually for adverse drug events in hospitals. Scholars from across the country have recommended the transfer from paper prescriptions to electronic prescription technology that will enable the healthcare system to view a prescription history in combination with the electronic health record that is now implemented in most healthcare facilities across the country in hopes of saving money and lives. (cms.gov. 2007)
Sloppy penmanship has been a problem in the medical field for decades. With the increase of aging baby boomers and the decline of fitness in the American population, prescription medications is at an all time high leading to the potential increase in written prescription errors. Written prescription errors were encountered for 37 out of every 100 written, contributing to the skyrocketing cost of health care. The error...

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Leavitt, M. Secretary of Health and Human Services (2007) Pilot Testing of Initial Electronic Prescribing Standards. Retrieved from http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/E-Health/Eprescribing/downloads/e-rxreporttocongress.pdf Miller, R., Gardner, R., Johnson, K., & Hripcsak, G. (2005). Clinical Decision Support and Electronic Prescribing Systems: A Time for Responsible Thought and Action. Journal of American Medical Information Association, 12, 403-409.
Stross, R. (2012, 04 28). Chicken scratches vs. electronic prescriptions. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/business/e-prescriptions-reduce-errors-but-their-adoption-is-slow.html?_r=0

PREVENTING MEDICATION ERRORS. (2006, January 1). Retrieved April 16, 2014, from http://www.iom.edu/~/media/Files/Report%20Files/2006/Preventing-Medication-Errors-Quality-Chasm-Series/medicationerrorsnew.ashx