E-prescribing Software

Buyers Guide

Last updated: October 27, 2021

E-prescription software are designed for the new age by simplifying ease of access to healthcare for everyone. Most physicians and practitioners prefer using e-prescribing over paper-based prescriptions because it’s easier, manageable, and less prone to errors. This guide will help you understand the unique features of an e-prescribing software.

Here’s what we’ll be discussing in this buyer’s guide:

What is an E-Prescribing Software?

E-Prescribing Software Features

Choosing an E-Prescribing Vendor

E-Prescribing Software Benefits

What is an E-Prescribing Software?

E-prescribing software are one of the most popular software used by healthcare providers. In fact, most practitioners have ranked this tool as one of their highest priorities in a medical practice’s digital infrastructure.

E-prescriptions are electronically generated prescription orders that practitioners can send directly to their patient’s nearest pharmacy. So instead of issuing manual prescription orders to patients or pharmacies, you can now issue an electronic copy of your prescription.

Now I know some of you might raise the issue of patient information safety and confidentiality. That’s why e-prescribing software also includes safety and security protocols that ensure your patient information is sent through private, secure, and closed networks. This reduces the chances of data theft and increases your cybersecurity. You can also connect with various pharmacies all over the United States.

The government has also taken a keen interest in incentivizing the use of e-prescribing software. In 2003, the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health in 2009 are both laws passed by the government to maximize the use of e-prescribing software. With numerous benefits, e-prescribing software is a perfect choice for physicians that want to optimize their digital workflows.

Before jumping to the software itself, you must assess the needs, requirements, and capabilities of your practice. Here’s all you need to know to make the most of your e-prescribing software.

E-Prescribing Software Features

Here are some features of e-prescribing software that help improve patient care, streamline your clinical workflows and simplify administrative tasks.

Medication Selection – Doctors should have the ability to choose the medicine from various brands when prescribing any medication. This would also include a generic alternative to the medicine you’re looking for.

Prescription Creation – Physicians can create a new prescription easily and send it to the patient’s nearest pharmacy without hassle. These prescriptions can be sent to mobile phones or computers of the pharmacies.

Refill Requests – Your patients can file a prescription refill request from the comfort of their homes. Similarly, you can approve the refill request and sent an alert to the pharmacy and the patient.

Adverse Interaction Alerts – Most e-prescribing software also offers medication interaction alerts. If a patient is allergic to any component of a medicine or if the medication could cause an adverse reaction, the software alerts the physicians beforehand.

HIPAA Compliance - An e-prescribing software also needs to ensure patient information confidentiality and privacy through compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) guidelines.

Choosing an e-prescribing EMR Vendor

Now that we’ve discussed the necessary features of e-prescribing software, let’s talk about some of the requirements you’d need from your software vendor. These may differ for each individual medical practice.

Design – The design of a software’s infrastructure depends on your choice. Whether you would prefer cloud-based, web-based, or even standalone software.

Web-based: These companies focus on a web-based approach and practitioners can access their patient information through their web browser.

Stand-alone: Although not quite popular as the others, this EHR is an on-premise EMR that can be accessed remotely through smartphones, iPads, etc. as long as you’re connected to your practice’s network.

Cloud-based: Companies that provide native cloud EHR offer you access to patient information through a cloud storage.

Vendor Size – What type of practices does your software vendor typically cater to? Some EHR vendors only provide services to small-scale practices, while others cater to large-scale practices. Therefore, if you have a small practice, paying for services that help large practices, won’t do much good. Similarly, large practices won’t be able to function with services designed for small practices.

Certification – Vendor certification ensures patient information confidentiality and security and is perhaps one of the most important things to look for in an e-prescribing software vendor. So make sure your vendor has ONC-authorized testing and certification body (ONC-ATCB) certification.

According to the top reviews, most e-prescribing software vendors focus on providing cloud-based EHR services to enhance security and provide seamless services.

E-Prescribing Software Benefits

An effective EHR software helps streamline your clinical workflows, simplify administrative tasks, and help reduce cost. Here are some of the most advantageous benefits of e-prescribing software.

• Medical alerts and allergy warnings allow physicians to prescribe more precise medication.
• E-prescribing software also reduces the general chances of error when prescribing medication.
• Patients find it more convenient to simply pick up their prescriptions with their nearest pharmacy, rather than having to visit the clinic every time they need a refill.
• Pharmacy agents don’t have to worry about trying to read faulty hand-writing when they have a clear description on an electronic copy of the prescription.