Electronic prescribing, or e-prescribing, will become an essential tool for any dental practice when the mandate that all controlled substance prescriptions under Medicare’s Part D drug plan be transmitted electronically comes into effect on January 1, 2023.
Meanwhile, many states have already implemented various requirements for electronic prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS) that require healthcare providers to use e-prescribing software. Here’s what you need to know about e-prescription, how it can benefit your practice, and how to implement these functionalities.
What Is e-Prescribing and How Does It Work?
An e-prescription is a prescription generated and transmitted digitally from a healthcare provider’s EHR system to a pharmacy. Instead of writing a prescription on paper, the provider enters the information into a computer or tablet. The data is then transmitted to the patient’s pharmacy securely.
E-prescription platforms are connected to state-run databases to track all controlled substance prescriptions (also known as Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs, or PDMPs). EPCS and PDMP work together to prevent doctor-shopping and substance abuse.
The Benefits of Using e-Prescription For Dental Practices
Besides staying compliant with federal and state regulations, e-prescriptions can help you improve operational efficiency and care outcomes.
1. Improve Patient Safety and Treatment Outcomes
An e-prescription platform offers features like allergy notifications, drug interaction details, duplicate therapy warnings, and other relevant information to help you avoid prescription errors, minimize contraindications, and improve patient safety. You can also prevent pharmacists from misinterpreting handwritten prescriptions and track fulfillment to ensure patients follow through with their treatments.
2. Empower Patients with Price Transparency
E-prescription platforms offer real-time drug benefit checks so dentists can help patients select medications covered by their insurance plans or choose the most cost-effective out-of-pocket options. Patients are more likely to fill their prescriptions and adhere to their care plans to improve treatment outcomes.
3. Improve Operational Cost-efficiency
By adding e-prescriptions to your workflow, your staff can save time and energy because they don’t have to track down the paperwork and update patient records. Since the prescriptions are transmitted directly to pharmacies, your employees will also spend less time acting as the intermediary between patients and pharmacists to clarify orders.
4. Support Mobile Practices and Teledentistry
A robust cloud-based e-prescription platform can be accessed from any device from anywhere with an internet connection to help you manage patient information efficiently. The streamlined workflow and elimination of paperwork also support a seamless teledentistry experience — enabling you to serve more patients and increase revenue.
5. Stay Compliant With the Latest Regulations
Vendors of e-prescription platforms are responsible for updating their software to stay current with fast-evolving regulatory requirements while ensuring that the changes don’t disrupt your operations. You don’t have to hire a large IT team to keep up with the latest updates, so you can focus your time and resources on growing your practice.
tab32 x DrFirst: e-Prescribe Capabilities at Your Fingertips
E-prescription is now a must-have capability for any dental practice. We have partnered with DrFirst, an award-winning provider of medication management solutions, to give all tab32 customers access to its robust e-prescribe software, Rcopia®, as part of their tab32 subscription plans.
Rcopia is built on the experience of delivering over 1 billion medication transactions. It offers cutting-edge capabilities, including:
- Predictive analytics: Rcopia learns your e-prescribing patterns to facilitate medication decisions with fewer clicks and cleaner sig instructions.
- Medical history: You can access 24 months of patient medical records to streamline medication reconciliation and enhan
- ce patient safety.
- Clinical alerts: Rcopia offers drug-drug, drug-allergy, dosing, and duplicate therapy alerts, patient-specific formulary guidance, and provider-specific drug favorites functionalities.
- Real-time benefit checks: You can see if a patient’s insurance covers a specific medication and view alternative therapies to help them lower out-of-pocket costs.
- Electronic prior authorization: You can initiate, submit, and complete prior authorizations all in one place without cumbersome paper/fax/phone-based workflows.
Accessing DrFirst’s e-prescribe software is quick and easy. The cost is included in your tab32 contract, and we also help you set up the account — all you need to do is click the button to connect to the DrFirst portal.
Request a demo to see how tab32 and DrFirst can help you streamline workflow, increase cost-efficiency, and improve patient outcomes.
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