Has this ever happened to you? You leave the doctor's office with a prescription and wonder how the pharmacist is going to read the scrawl on that little piece of paper. Then you figure they'll know and hand it over and hope for the best.
Most of the time they get it right. Or they call the doctor for clarification. But every once in a while, they don't.
According to a July 2006 report from the National Academies of Science's Institute of Medicine (IOM), illegibly written prescriptions kill more than 7,000 people annually in the United States. And from the text of The Medicare Electronic Medication and Safety Protection (E-MEDS) Act of 2007 (S.2408), The Institute of Medicine estimates more than 1.5 million preventable adverse drug events occur every year.
On Wednesday, the Senate passed Sen. Kerry's e-prescribing provision with the Medicare bill by a vote of 69-30. The provision will require physicians to adopt electronic prescribing technology.
Not only will e-prescriptions save lives by removing the risks from illegible handwriting, but doctors will also be warned of potentially dangerous drug interactions, saving thousands of lives and billions of dollars a year.
“e-Prescribing is a fundamental step towards modernizing our health care system,” said Sen. Kerry. “It will save lives by reducing medical errors and save billions of dollars.”
The PCMA put together this video with highlights from last December's press conference. It features a bipartisan group of Senators describing Sen. Kerry's legislation and explaining why they backed it overwhelmingly.
