United Physicians Deploys E-Prescribing Tool

United Physicians, the largest independent physician organization in Southeast Michigan, has begun deploying electronic prescribing technology to its 1,700 private practice doctors.

United Physicians selected DrFirst and its flagship product, Rcopia, for the e-prescribing rollout. Rcopia is the leading full-featured stand-alone electronic prescription management system in the US and the leading e-prescribing tool in Michigan.

United Physicians is rolling out the e-prescribing technology to its members following a successful three-month pilot test at six physician offices involving 10 doctors. The project is modeled on the successful Southeast Michigan e-Prescribing Initiative (SEMI) launched in 2005.

With e-prescribing, United Physicians members will use a wireless tablet or desktop computer to write and electronically transmit prescriptions instantly to pharmacies. E-prescribing eliminates the need for handwritten prescriptions, which can be misread or illegible and thus result in medication errors. This is crucial as, according to a recent report by the Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, more than 1.5 million Americans are injured every year by drug errors.

Doctors using e-prescribing receive alerts to patient drug allergies, drug interactions and therapeutic duplication. They can access insurance plan eligibility and formulary compliance, authorize renewals and refills, and easily track a patient’s medication history. Furthermore, a doctor can perform these e-prescribing functions either while seeing a patient or while away from the office.

“Using e-prescribing has improved our office workflow by significantly reducing phone calls to and from pharmacies related to prescriptions,” said United Physicians member and pilot participant Gary Langnas, of Oakland Medical Group. “The features related to patient safety, such as drug interactions and formulary information, are very helpful.”