WARWICK, R.I. — Rhode Island yesterday announced that it has now connected 100% of its retail pharmacies for e-prescribing via the Surescripts network.
"This is a very significant milestone in our efforts to leverage health information technology to improve the quality, safety and value of health care in Rhode Island,” said Laura Adams, president and chief executive officer of the Rhode Island Quality Institute. “When a misplaced decimal point can cost a life, the value of eliminating hand-transcribed prescriptions cannot be overstated.”
The state also announced that 63% of Rhode Island prescribers are using e-prescriptions, 56% of prescribers are using an electronic health record for e-prescribing, and 31% of prescriptions are routed electronically.
“Stop & Shop applauds the achievements in Rhode Island and strongly supports e-prescribing technology,” said Jim Wonderly, the chain’s vice president of pharmacy.
In a related announcement, Rhode Island Gov. Donald L. Carcieri announced that Rhode Island was launching a new system for tracking swine flu that makes use of prescribing data provided by pharmacies throughout the state via a secure electronic link.
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