Prescription pads being written out of existence

Finally, a government health care policy everyone can get behind: Written prescriptions are going the way of the iron lung. Indecipherable written prescriptions have long been a source of frustration for pharmacists and patients alike. Now, the federal government is taking steps to encourage doctors to prescribe electronically; starting this year, holdouts will see cuts in their Medicare reimbursements.

Prescribing electronically, or e-prescribing, is increasingly popular in the U.S. A new report from Surescripts, the largest network for this mode of prescribing, shows that 36 percent of all prescriptions last year were electronic up from 22 percent the year before. And it's easy to see why more and more health care providers have switched to e-prescriptions. Eliminating messy handwriting means that prescriptions can be filled with greater accuracy. The computerized ordering system also allows doctors to reduce the chances of a newly-prescribed drug adversely interacting with another the patient is already taking. And for the patient, a prescription that is sent electronically means that they needn't wait around at the pharmacy for a written prescription to be filled. Furthermore, the Surescripts report indicates that more patients pick up a new prescription when it's filed electronically: the step of dropping it off is removed, and pharmacies can then call patients to remind them that their prescription is ready.