Sacramento Business Journal Profiles Electronic Prescribing Projects at California Health Systems
The Sacramento Business Journal on Friday profiled the progress of some California health systems in adopting electronic prescribing systems. Descriptions of the projects are provided below.
- Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente in October implemented an e-prescribing system at its office in Elk Grove. The system allows physicians to send prescriptions to the pharmacy in the building from computers in each exam room. The system also eliminates the need for patients to carry paper prescriptions to the pharmacy, stand in line and wait to pick them up, Kaiser spokesperson Jeff Hausman said. Kaiser, which began testing e-prescribing systems in 1999, plans to install the technology at other Kaiser hospitals and clinics in Northern California by February, Hausman said.
- The University of California-Davis Health System for more than a year has used a system that allows physicians to refill prescriptions over the Internet. In some cases, physicians can prescribe medications for symptoms a patient describes online. Doctors then send prescriptions to the pharmacy's fax machine via a secure Internet connection. E-prescribing technology will soon be in place at all the system's clinics and for patients discharged from hospitals, Dr. Eric Liederman, medical director for clinical information systems at UC-Davis, said (Dickey, Sacramento Business Journal, 12/5).