E-prescribing has been shown to increase efficiency, lower costs, and help protect patients, but its adoption is still the exception rather than the rule. This policy briefing discussed the “eRx” environment and key issues for California.

The speakers were:

• Patrick Robinson, CalPERS pharmaceutical consultant
• Dean Germano, CEO of Shasta Community Health Center
• Kim Ortiz, chief of the Office of Medi-Cal Payment Systems
• Scott Barclay, general manager of Physician Connectivity CVS Caremark

Highlights of the presentation were:

• The general theme was that e-prescribing has the potential to improve quality and safety by giving providers patient medication histories and safety alerts, improve patient satisfaction because of its convenience, and reduce costs by giving providers instant access to formulary information and opportunities to avoid redundancy.
• While the potential of eRx is great, there are still some challenges. For example, federal law prevents schedule II medications from being supported by eRx. Also, many physicians, pharmacies, and payers are still not participating due to adoption barriers. Other issues include a burdensome special consent process as part of the Medi-Cal pilot project, and vendors’ transaction fees that serve as a disincentive to participation.
• Barclay stressed the importance of making sure eRx software vendors provide technical assistance.
• Questions were raised by the audience about interstate commerce concerns, theft/fraud, interoperability and standardization, and fees.

The presentation slides are available under Document Downloads. The complete report is available under Related CHCF Pages below.