Paper Scrips Could Be History
Source: AARP.org
When 84-year-old Elaine Goetz was ill, she carried a sheet of paper listing all her medications—in hopes of avoiding medical errors as she went from doctor to doctor. That wouldn't be necessary if all physicians, pharmacists and other health care providers could fill and monitor prescriptions electronically, said her son, Tennessee Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz.
He's hoping a new initiative—ePrescribe Tennessee—is the solution.
"It's clear that people suffer from medical errors that are made around indecipherable prescriptions; that it is very difficult for anyone in this day and time to track all of the prescriptions somebody may be on," the commissioner told AARP Tennessee. "...You simply must automate these things."
His boss, Gov. Phil Bredesen, has long been a proponent of e-health initiatives and hopes ePrescribe Tennessee is the first step toward a fully electronic health system.
Bredesen co-chaired an e-health group for the National Governors Association that issued a report spurring states "to make the vision of an interconnected, efficient, quality-based health care system a reality for all Americans."
Such a system would save lives and money, officials say. But no state has implemented a statewide e-prescription model, much less an electronic system linking all medical records. Massachusetts is the farthest along, with 13 percent of providers e-prescribing, Goetz said.
Some doctors and pharmacists have been reluctant because of the cost and the learning curve. But Tennessee has $16 million for provider incentives and has hired a company to train them.
In January, the state launched its eprescribing program on the Cumberland Plateau, a largely rural area about two hours east of Nashville where a lot of retirees have settled.
State officials are working with doctors, pharmacists, lawmakers, AARP and other stakeholders on an ePrescribe Tennessee program to decide how best to proceed from there—and hope to have a statewide system in place before a new administration takes over in 2011. "It's simply the right thing to do," Goetz said.
Other Resources
View the entire transcript of AARP TN's interview with Goetz
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