Rockville, MD - DrFirst, the nation’s leading e-prescribing solutions platform provider, today announced that it has formed a task force to assist New York physicians in meeting the requirements of Bill S7367, popularly referred to as I-STOP (Internet System for Tracking Over-Prescribing Act), which was passed unanimously last month by the New York state Legislature.
I-STOP was created in response to the increasing problem of prescription drug abuse in the state of New York. The bill requires that physicians use e-prescribing and view patients’ controlled substance histories by the end of 2014 to prevent prescription fraud. This complements New York’s existing law requiring real-time reporting by pharmacists for Schedule II through V controlled substances. According to a June 11, 2012 press release issued by New York Attorney General’s office, New York is one of the first states to mandate electronic prescribing of controlled substances, although it is legal in 38 states.
“DrFirst is committed to helping the physicians of New York to comply with the new law,” said Peter Kaufman, M.D., chief medical officer for DrFirst and chairman of the task force. “The New York State Legislature clearly recognizes the benefits of using e-prescribing as an efficient and effective tool in the fight against prescription drug abuse. We commend their commitment to being at the forefront of this important issue.”
The DrFirst E-prescribing Task Force for New York is a team of e-prescribing specialists dedicated to helping New York state physicians meet the requirements of I-STOP. The Task Force will work with physician practices to implement e-prescribing of controlled substances with Rcopia® and EPCS GoldSM 2.0. Using Rcopia and EPCS Gold together, physician practices are able to:
- Send prescriptions electronically to the patient’s pharmacy
- Review patient prescription history, including controlled substance medications
- Assign staff members to help administer patient information