Roughly 3% of medical prescriptions in Tennessee this year made it to the pharmacy without a doctor putting pen to paper. Now the state wants to turn electronic prescriptions from a hobby into a standard for the industry.
The state has now established an organization called E-Prescribe Tennessee to oversee the transition. Already, a secure network is available between doctors and pharmacies. The state has given health care providers some grant money to purchase computers and software, but pharmacists are still waiting for their funding.
Tennessee Pharmacists Association director Baeteena Black says the conversion has been especially hard for locally owned drug stores.
“It is not going to do any good in this state if you get all of the physicians e-prescribing, if where all of those prescriptions are going are not ready to receive those prescriptions.”
Black says she is asking the state for grants to help cover the cost of conversion for independent pharmacists. She says it would take at least 18 months to get everyone online.
Governor Bredesen says electronic prescriptions are a “stepping stone” toward digitizing the entire health care delivery system. Bredesen says prescriptions are an easier first step than electronic health records. But similarly, they touch nearly every sector of health care – from nursing homes to orthopedics.
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