E-prescription Pays For Doctors

摘要

The future has arrived for U.S. doctors when it comes to prescribing medications. Starting next month, Medicare, the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, will offer financial bonuses to doctors who prescribe drugs electronically rather than on paper. Doctors who do not will face penalties from Medicare starting in 2012, a Reuters report says. This is intended to help persuade the vast majority of U.S. doctors who do not 'e-prescribe' to start, both to improve efficiency and curb medical errors. Proponents say that when a physician zaps a prescription electronically to a pharmacist rather than scribbling it on a piece of paper, it removes the possibility a patient might get the wrong drug because of a doctor's sloppy handwriting or a different medication with a similar name.