Important Features to Look For in ePrescribing Software

It’s hard to believe that ePrescribing has been around for nearly 15 years now, but it isn’t hard to see why adoption has been slow in some dental practices. While prescription volume certainly helped drive adoption rates, there were still obstacles to adoption that related to functionality and integration. For many, ePrescribing turned what appeared to be one step (writing a prescription) into many steps (learning a new interface, logging in, searching databases, looking up pharmacies), but when we consider the obstacles and dangers of old school prescriptions, it’s easy to see why adoption rates have increased.

Similarly, laws requiring Electronic Prescribing for Controlled Substances (EPCS) are expanding state to state, and improvements in the functionality of ePrescribing software have moved many medical and dental practices to make the switch for compliance. Additionally, older server-based practice management systems often don’t meet the needs of modern ePrescribing. As a result, many practices may not be realizing the full value or benefit of ePrescription solutions simply because of the software solutions they choose.

Quick Links

• Prescription Challenges for Patients and Practices
• What Does ePrescription Software Do?
• Why Your Practice Needs ePrescription Software
• Important Features in ePrescription Software

Prescription Challenges for Patients and Practices

We all know the old joke about doctors' handwriting, but the truth is errors related to illegible handwriting on prescriptions aren’t funny at all. In fact, up to 25% of medication errors are related to illegible handwriting. And, when it comes to prescription challenges, medication errors are only one piece of the puzzle.

In addition to potential medication errors from bad handwriting, medication errors may also include allergies, contraindications, or negative interactions resulting in $40 billion patient costs each year.

Still, challenges aren’t just about errors. Medication nonadherence is a major issue. 30-50% of American adults either do not take the medication they have been prescribed or don’t do so according to the schedule or dosage prescribed.

While there are a variety of reasons for nonadherence, failing to fill the prescription because of obstacles to doing so is a major issue. Many patients run into problems at the pharmacy that prohibit prescriptions from being filled and lack of time, funds, access, or even fears or distrust can result in the prescription remaining unfilled.

Medication and prescription issues may, at best, complicate procedures, treatment, and patient outcomes and, in worst case scenarios, result in an inability to provide the care required by the patient.

For practices, one big concern is adherence to state prescription drug monitoring programs (or PMPs). Not only is this a compliance issue, but it’s also a major patient safety and practice liability issue. Especially with older software, doctors may not have quick and easy access to a patient’s full prescription history, making safe prescribing of controlled substances difficult.

Thankfully, there are ways to prevent these issues and concerns while saving your practice and patients time, effort, and stress.

What Does ePrescription Software Do?

The simple and short version of what ePrescription software can do is alleviate a lot of the concerns noted above. ePrescribing software allows dentists and doctors to write a prescription and securely send that prescription directly to the patient’s pharmacy. Then, without the risk of a lost prescription or having to wait for it to get filled, patients can have their prescriptions filled quickly and accurately, helping to decrease errors and improve both adherence and the patient care experience.

Why Your Practice Needs ePrescription Software

There’s a pretty easy way to tell if your practice needs ePrescription software. Are you in a state with ePrescribing laws? Are you looking for ways to improve your efficiency? Increase medication adherence? Cut costs? Improve prescription accuracy and safety? Save your patients time and effort? Protect your practice from liability issues and concerns?

If you answered yes to one or more of those questions, you’re not alone. Most practices have similar goals and it’s rare that a single solution can help you do all of that. Yet ePrescription software can do all of that and more. 

Important Features in ePrescription Software

Still, not all ePrescription software solutions are the same. Choosing the right solution for your medical or dental practice can make a significant difference in the benefits you realize.

For example, some ePrescription software solutions are bound to server-based onsite practice management systems and only allow ePrescribing from a desktop computer, limiting the efficiency and speed of the process. Others only allow you to access ePrescribing from an app on your smart phone. iCoreRx, the cloud-based ePrescribing solution from iCoreConnect, allows you to ePrescribe from any device–be it phone, laptop, tablet, or desktop.

Similarly, some solutions still require that you log in to your state’s prescription drug monitoring program (PMP) separately from your software. iCoreRx seamlessly integrates with state PMP databases allowing you to check and note patient prescriptions as needed from one application, anywhere in your office.

Looking to improve efficiency even more? Consider features like autofill, favorites, and flags for negative interactions, all designed to help save you time and effort while enhancing patient care and simplifying the prescription process for all parties.

If you’re ready to see how our leading ePrescription software is changing the ePrescribing game and improving practices across the US, book a demo today. You’ll see why we’ve garnered over 90 association product agreements across our entire platform.