1. E-prescribing is the computer based generation of filling medical prescriptions. The purpose of E-prescribing is to reduce the risks associated with traditional prescription script writing. This is very beneficial because it saves thousands of lives each year. The Institute of Medicine identified medication errors as the most common type of medical error in health care today. E- prescribing also reduces the amount of time spent on phone calls to and from pharmacies. These systems can perform checks against the patient’s current medications for drug-drug interactions, drug-allergy interactions, diagnosis, body weight, and correct dosing. Overall, this is a very beneficial and thoroughly equipped system.

2. A prescriber uses a computer to electronically access a patient’s prescription benefit which allows them to: -Chose medications that are covered by the patient’s drug benefit -Receive critically important information on their patients’ current and past prescriptions -Exchange prescription information with the pharmacy more accurately and in a short amount of time. -Electronically send prescriptions from their offices to more than 64,000 retail pharmacies and six of the largest mail order pharmacies HOW DOES E- PRESCRIBING WORK?

3. Limitations that may hinder e-prescription services: -Financial Costs: The costs of providing this service may go beyond the means of small clinical practices. -Change Management: There are several changes to be made when transitioning from paper scripts to electronic scripts. Steps must be taken to ensure effective planning, training, support, and continuous quality improvement for successful transition. -Security & Privacy: A security issue is the verification of electronic signatures, in ensuring the medical integrity of the prescriptions received by pharmacists. Therefore adequate firewalls must be used by pharmacists to ensure protection of client information. LIMITATIONS TO E- PRESCRIBING

4. -In 2011, 58% of office based physicians are actively using e-Prescribing compared to just 36% in 2010. -In 2011, more than 570 million prescriptions were e- prescribed, a 75% increase from 2010. -As of today, over 56,900 pharmacies are now available through e-prescriptions which represents 91% of community pharmacies in the United States. STATISTICS

5. http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/EHealth/Eprescribing/index.html?redirect=/ ePrescribing/ http://www.hrsa.gov/healthit/toolbox/HealthITAdoptiontoolbox/Electronic Prescribing/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2769896/ CITATIONS