PCMA Article:

"WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 /U.S. Newswire/ -- New studies released today finding that widespread adoption of health information technology (IT) -- including electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) -- has the potential to save billions of dollars annually on health care costs and prevent more than two million adverse drug events underscore the need for uniform, national e-prescribing standards that will accelerate adoption of these systems throughout the entire health care system, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) said today. PCMA is the national association representing America's pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs)."

Not that I trust everything that comes from a PBM, but I think this type of literature solidifies what we all know. E-prescribing sounds great on the surface; reduction of transcription errors, quicker turnaround, pre-emptive interaction screening by providers. The underlying technology leaves much to be desired. There are at least 50 different tools on the market that provide e-prescribing. Some still use fax machines. I agree a standard (much like the HL7 standard) would help unify healthcare IT around this objective.

What do you think?