On Monday, Iowa Health System and health IT vendor Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions unveiled a Web-based tool designed to facilitate electronic prescribing for physicians in Iowa and western Illinois, Healthcare IT News reports (Healthcare IT News, 10/12).
The initiative, called ePrescribe Iowa, will run on a 3,200-mile fiber optic network called HealthNet Connect.
The project aims to help small and mid-sized physician practices transition from paper records to electronic systems by offering no-cost access to its Web-based tool (Robinson, Government Health IT, 10/13).
The e-prescribing tool also aims to help physicians:
- Avoid errors resulting from illegible handwriting;
- Check for possible drug allergies or interactions;
- Develop an e-prescription record for patients;
- Identify less-expensive medications; and
- Lower costs by improving efficiency.
IHS and Allscripts will provide technical assistance to help health care providers implement the e-prescribing tool, organizers said.
IHS also is contributing $500,000 for the first year of the project (Hadish, Cedar Rapids Gazette, 10/13).
Officials say the ePrescribe Iowa initiative could be the first step to achieving widespread electronic health record adoption statewide (Government Health IT, 10/13).