'Paperless Pharmacy' Segement Small but Growing

LIZ PARKS

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.