| ISMagazine.com | Government Direction |
January, 2000 |
Executive Memorandum Promotes Electronic Prescribing to Reduce Medication Errors
LIBERTYVILLE, Ill., Dec. 7 -- President Clinton signed an Executive Memorandum today that will create a task force to focus on increasing the use of electronic prescribing tools, such as those provided by Allscripts (NASDAQ: MDRX), as one step to reduce medication errors. This action by the President was in response to a recent Institute of Medicine report that estimated between 44,000 and 98,000 patients die each year because of medical mistakes. Among the greatest causes identified were fulfillment mistakes due illegible handwriting, vast amounts of medical knowledge required of physicians today, and lack of a coordinated communication system between care providers.
"Over 25% of the errors identified through studies and papers are related to drug name mix ups caused by poor physician handwriting," according to Michael Cohen, President of the Institute of Safe Medication Practices, a non-profit organization focused on reducing medical errors. "Fortunately, we now have the means to solve this problem with point of care electronic prescribing products that are being rolled out nationally. Within the next five years, every prescription should be created and routed electronically."
The newly formed task force will study all forms of medication errors and recommend different solutions. Allscripts' TouchScript(R) Personal Prescriber(TM), the first fully functional hand-held electronic prescribing solution, currently being used by thousands of physicians nationwide, solves many of the problems that exist today. It is the only product on the market that enables physicians to electronically route the prescription to any local retail, mail order or Internet pharmacy the patient chooses, completely removing the need and risks associated with handwritten prescriptions.
Using radio frequency for real time connectivity, the Personal Prescriber provides physicians the most current information on potential drug interactions, prior adverse reactions and pharmaceuticals that have been removed or approved for distribution. Physicians in the same group practice can also share patient information, ensuring that all prescribed medications for a patient will be reviewed before another one is issued.
"The combination of our latest technology, innovative software, and the Internet, has allowed Allscripts to provide a solution that enables physicians to prescribe electronically as fast as they can hand write a prescription, eliminating all kinds of medication errors and handwriting problems," said Glen Tullman, Chief Executive Officer of Allscripts. "We applaud the President's actions and his focus on this important issue."
Allscripts, Inc. is the leading provider of innovative point-of-care medication management and distribution solutions designed to meet the needs of physician practices and managed care payers and plans. The Company's TouchScript software provides easy-to-use electronic prescribing and uses the Internet to route transactions to local retail, Internet and mail order pharmacies and managed care organizations. The Personal Prescriber is based on the Hewlett-Packard Jornada 600 Series hand-held PC hardware and runs on Microsoft's Windows CE operating system. The Company also provides a number of Internet-based patient and physician compliance and education services, as well as e-commerce applications. Allscripts is headquartered in Libertyville, Ill., and provides services to over 10,000 physicians at 3,000 sites across the U.S. Visit Allscripts on the Web at http://www.allscripts.com.
