Does Your E-Prescribing Software Pass the Test?

Following are key components of a solid e-prescribing system. Does your e-prescribing software pass the test?

Patient Information

* Does the e prescribing software maintain patient demographic information?
* Can it be interfaced to practice management software systems?
* Can data be manually entered by the physician or medical assistant?
* Can you upload demographic information from a file?
* Does it maintain medication history (current/discontinued)?
* Does it maintain a list of known allergies?
* Does it maintain a list of problems?
* Will it maintain patient insurance and eligibility information?

Medications Management

* Will it automatically calculate dosages based upon weight/age calculations?
* Can it maintains individualized lists of most frequently prescribed drugs?
* Does it allow for look up of drugs by different criteria, including brand name, generic name and drug class?
* Does the e-prescribing system check for drug-drug interactions, drug-allergy interactions and drug-problem interactions?
* Does it check for duplicate therapies?
* Does it perform formulary checking?
* Will it maintain multiple prescription formularies?
* Does it recommend brand and/or generic drug alternatives?
* Does it allow for alerts or warnings to be either turned off or attenuated?
* Is the software integrated with a drug reference library?
* Can the physician print prescriptions?
* Can the user fax prescriptions to pharmacy?
* Is the e-RX software able to send prescriptions electronically to pharmacy?
* Will the e-prescription system warn you if transmission to pharmacy fails?
* Does it provides patient education materials?
* Does it automate the renewals/refill process?