Tommy Thompson, secretary of Health and Human Services, noting that only about 5 percent of the nearly 1 billion prescriptions filled annually are filed electronically, urged more doctors and pharmacists to use electronic-prescribing systems like one just endorsed by an East Coast pharmacy chain.
"What a tremendous waste of a pharmacist's expertise and time and energy," he said. "Less paper means fewer errors, more time for patients."
Two million Americans are hospitalized annually from drug side effects, and 100,000 die. Many of the problems are caused by preventable medication errors, such as when the wrong drug or wrong dose is prescribed; pharmacists misread an illegible prescription; doctors or pharmacists mix up drugs with similar names; or a drug interacts dangerously with a patient's other medication.
Drug experts say electronic prescribing could help the situation by eliminating handwriting problems and allowing a computer to link with patients' medical records to check for drug interactions that may have slipped the doctor's mind.
Numerous companies offer different paperless prescription services.
On Tuesday, Giant Food and Pharmacy said its 154 pharmacies in mid Atlantic states will start using one alternative called OnCallData. Created by Maryland-based InstantDX, it's an Internet-based technology that allows doctors to prescribe with the press of a few buttons and lets pharmacists send back questions.
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