Below is an excerpt from an interesting article from Florida on the electronification of prescription data and here is the link (bold face emphasis mine):
Carrying a prescription that he couldn't read and trying to get it filled at a local CVS store, Bonita Springs resident Sean Balke said he looks forward to the day when medical records will be online....Starting on April 1, the first step toward having all medical records accessible online will begin in Florida. "We'll be rolling it out over the course of the year," said Rob Cronin, spokesman for SureScripts, which is launching the software in 10 states. "By the end of the year, we expect it to be statewide in Florida." Already 75 percent of Fort Myers pharmacies have signed up for the software, which has yet to go live.
Here is the web site for SureScripts and below is a couple of paragraphs describing SureScripts copied from here.
SureScripts was founded in 2001 by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) and the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of the overall prescribing process. The SureScripts Electronic Prescribing Network is the largest network to link electronic communications between pharmacies and physicians, allowing the electronic exchange of prescription information.
SureScripts does not develop, sell or endorse specific electronic prescribing software. Instead, SureScripts works with software companies that supply electronic health record (EHR) and electronic prescribing applications to physician practices and pharmacy technology vendors to connect their solutions to the SureScripts Electronic Prescribing Network.
SureScripts should not be confused with AllScripts whose web site is located here and which is a software and content provider.
As a sidebar, the article also presented this interesting timeline for deploying on-line medical records -- note the early precedent of test results transmission on the Internet:
• 1990s: Some laboratories began transmitting test results via the Internet
• 1999: President Bill Clinton proposes making medical records more accessible to patients through the Internet.
• Early 2000: Some health insurance companies began allowing patients to access treatment, payment, and other personal information online
• 2005: Hurricane Katrina destroys hospitals, doctors offices and other locations where medical records were stored, leaving millions without access to their own information. Efforts to digitize medical records increased.
• 2006: Pharmacies will be able to transmit prescription records, including allergies, doses and other medications. In Florida, the program will roll-out April 1. Patients may opt to not participate.
• 2013: All medical records are supposed to be accessible through the Internet, although officials are unsure if that is a realistic goal. There may be some problems that delay it, such as integrating all of the systems.
Speaking of providing on-line test results, I have always been very enthused about the idea, made possible by lab portals, of allowing patients to access their own ambulatory care/physician office test results via the web. Office staff supply the patients with a password and ID and advise the patients to check online, say, 24-48 hours from the time of specimen collection. Such a program avoids the need for the patient to call the office for test results. Obviously, a number of results cannot be communicated in this way such as HIV testing and biopsy results. Because time is money, such a reporting system can be an added incentive to utilize a lab portal system offering this capability in a physician office.
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