A National Web Conference on Electronic Prescribing (e-RX) and the Medicare Modernization Act e-RX Pilot Evaluation
Event Date:
August 13, 2007 | 1:00pm – 2:30pm ET
Overall Purpose:
The current paper-based system of prescribing and dispensing medications in the United States has widespread problems with safety and efficiency. Experts predict that a shift to electronic prescribing (e-RX) systems could avoid more than 2 million adverse drug events annually, of which 130,000 are life-threatening. However, adoption of e-RX technology remains limited, with less than 5% of physicians writing prescriptions electronically. One major hurdle to effective implementation of e-prescribing has been the inability of multiple systems to share information effectively.
In 2005, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) awarded grants to five pilot sites to test e-RX standards. The testing focused on the interoperability of these standards with one another, their ability to delivery messages accurately and unambiguously, and their downstream effect on healthcare outcomes such as medical errors and clinical efficiency. The AHRQ National Resource Center for Health IT (NRC) was then charged with compiling an evaluation report which synthesized findings across the pilot projects, with the goal of advising the Federal Government on standards adoption and disseminating key data on e-RX outcomes among the policy community.
This national Web conference was the first in a series of four on e-RX and the e-RX pilot evaluation and its findings. Rochelle Woolley and Kevin Johnson provided an overview of e-RX and discussed its value and potential impact, current state of adoption, and barriers to adoption. The speakers also introduced the e-RX pilot evaluation, of which the standards, outcomes, and impact analysis were discussed in detail in the subsequent three national Web conferences of this series.
Event Materials:
- Presentation Slides (PDF, 558 KB)
- Event Transcript (PDF, 125 KB)
- Recording of the Presentation