In pursuit of the goal of becoming “paperless pharmacies,” many pharmacies are now receiving growing numbers of new and refill prescription transactions electronically through e-prescribing.
Additionally, at Save Mart Supermarkets, Modesto, Calif., integrating the pharmacy management system with the interactive voice-response system “has helped our pharmacies organize their processing of prescriptions,” said Michele Snider, the chain's senior director of pharmacy.
At Ahold USA, Quincy, Mass., between 3% and 5% of prescriptions now come in electronically. “It's good, strong growth,” said Brad Dayton, director of pharmacy systems. “We are between doubling and tripling e-prescriptions each year. We are seeing more and more physicians across the U.S. enroll in e-prescription programs.”
As of last August, SureScripts-RxHub reported that some 45,000 physicians were enrolled in e-prescribing. “That's a milestone — the first time that we've had more physicians than pharmacies enrolled. When we started with e-prescribing at Giant-Landover, we started with less than 600 physicians,” Dayton said.
Bob Egeland, vice president of pharmacy, Hy-Vee, West Des Moines, Iowa; John Beckner, director of pharmacy and health services, Ukrop's Super Markets, Richmond, Va.; and Verne Mounts, director of pharmacy and health services, Buehler's Food Markets, Wooster, Ohio, all note that while e-prescribing is still relatively small, it is growing and will ultimately become mainstream as more and more physicians adopt the technology.