DrFirst

E-Prescribing: Now That it’s Well Adopted, it’s Time to Level Up

When our CEO, Cam Deemer, sat down with athenahealth’s Chief Medical Officer, Nele Jessel, M.D., and Healthcare IT Today’s John Lynn, the group explored how e-prescribing developed over time and what needs to change to better serve prescribers and patients.

Here are some highlights, including how the current e-prescribing network is a bit of a “health IT miracle,” why it needs to evolve, how industry standards help but also stifle innovation, and how changes to the system could benefit all stakeholders.

What’s at Stake

Dr. Jessel outlines two unintended consequences of e-prescribing that need to be addressed for the future. First, the headaches it can cause healthcare providers and electronic health record (EHR) vendors because when it was first developed, e-prescribing didn’t account for their complex needs. And today, with the ease of e-prescribing, patients often don’t pick up their medications.

Access to Data Can Fuel Innovation

Cam Deemer discusses how making clinical data – for things like medication history and benefit checks – available to more healthcare providers to use in meaningful ways would fuel innovation.

Making Sure Doctors’ and Patients’ Voices Are Heard

E-prescribing has made great strides since it was first introduced, yet the needs of doctors and patients have not been fully met. Cam discusses how and why.

Staying Connected to Better Serve All Stakeholders

Cam considers the progress networks have made over time as a “health IT miracle,” given the diverse interests of PBMs, payers, physicians, and pharmacies. He shares his vision for staying connected and understanding the needs of these groups to take e-prescribing to the next level.

Leveraging the E-Prescribing Network to Improve Medication Adherence

athenahealth is partnering with DrFirst to improve medication adherence rates by automatically sending patients messages when their prescriptions are sent to the pharmacy. The messages include educational information about the medication and cost-saving resources, when available. Dr. Jessel shares just how much patients like the messages (spoiler: a lot!).

Strengthening Identity Management for Prescribers

Identity proofing and identity management are major pain points for doctors. Cam discusses making it stronger, simpler, and faster, as part of our efforts to refine e-prescribing.

 

See the full interview on the Healthcare IT Today website.