ePrescribing will lead to more use of the Web for health
Efforts to push e-prescribing have been backed by a broad lobbying coalition, which has argued that the technology improves patient safety and will save money -- including federal dollars. A similar e-prescribing bill won endorsements from groups including AARP and several big insurers and employers. "If you fix this problem for Medicare, you fix it for America," said Mark Merritt, chief executive of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, a group of pharmacy benefit managers that has advocated e-prescribing. "Now is the time it will happen, we believe."
This is the key message to patients
for ePrescribing
An estimated 35,000,
or fewer than 10%, of U.S. doctors have switched to
e-prescribing, in which a prescription they fill out
on a computer is sent electronically to their
patient's pharmacy. The programs also can flag
dangerous combinations of drugs.
ePrescribing is a great way to reduce costs as well
as provide patients with a wealth of information. The
next version of Windows in fact is going to have a
touch screen interface which will make ePrescribing
extremely easy. A physician recommends a prescription
to a patient and as the doctor enters the information
the patients insurer informs the doctor that there is
a generic equivalent available at a lower cost to the
patient. When the patient goes to pick up the
prescription a custom printed label comes with the
product informing the patient that he, or she, needs
to take this medication at night to ensure it does
not interact with other medications he or she is
taking. After 2 weeks the patient receives an eMail
from his or her doctor informing him that it’s time
to renew the prescription along with a link to health
information about the health condition and product.
Now do you see why Google and MSN are so interested
positioning for online health records? When baby
boomers make way for Generation X and
Y, who live in
cyberspace, the Web will be the ONLY channel to
reach these people with health choices. How long
do you think it will be before Google or MSN
approach the drug chains about integrating their
platforms?
The supporters of ePrescribing is pretty
impresive
What does this mean for pharma? Well there is good
news and bad news. The good news is that pharma can
customize messages at each step in the healthcare
transaction model. The bad news is that people, and
physicians, may listen to and trust insurers messages
more than pharma’s.
Physicians who adopt e-prescribing technology
would
have their Medicare payments increased 2% in 2009
and 2010, then a bit less over the next three
years. Those who don't use e-prescribing would see
their payments cut by 1% in 2011, ramping up to 2%
for 2013 and beyond. Both bills allow for some
exceptions but you can bet that if there is a way
to both cut costs and increase revenues physicians
are going to adapt it quickly.