Emergence of Covid-19 to Boost Adoption of e-Prescribing Systems

 e-Prescribing, also known as electronic prescribing, is defined as the procedure of sending an electronic medical prescription order to a pharmacy, from where the physician or other medical practitioner can send an electronic medical prescription directly to a physician in a specified medical setting. This electronic form of electronic medicine (IMC) is intended for faster and easier access of electronic prescriptions by medical practitioners and patients. There are various advantages of electronic prescribing such as: reduced time, lower costs and lower paper wastage; better integration of e-prescribing and electronic health records; less dependence on manual patient dispensing systems; easy access to information from electronic health records; and, more. These advantages make electronic prescribing very useful, especially in the medical profession where many doctors and nurses rely heavily on electronic medical prescriptions.

The traditional way of electronic prescribing is to send an electronic medical prescription by fax or email to the doctor's clinic, wherein the medical practice uses the fax machine or other electronic transmission medium to send a medical prescription to the hospital or other authorized electronic prescribing center. This requires several steps before the prescription is transmitted to the patient in the prescribed format. An electronic medical prescription needs to be converted into a format acceptable by the medical practitioner's clinic. In addition, it requires the authorization of the medical practitioner before sending the prescription. After this step, the prescription is sent to the electronic prescribing clinic.

Electronic medical prescription system is becoming more popular because it is simple to use, saves time and money, and is easy to use. Emergence of Covid-19 is also a major boost for e-prescribing systems. In October 2020, New South Wales, Australia, announced to implement electronic prescribing to fast-track better access for patients requiring prescriptions during the COVID lockdown. Several government organizations are focused on offering financial support to boost adoption of digital records and electronic prescribing. In October 2020, seven NHS hospital trusts were offered to receive a share of US$ 11.42 million to introduce digital records and electronic prescribing. In the United States, electronic prescribing systems are witnessing significant developments regarding regulations. In December 2019, Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH), U.S., stated that beginning January 1, 2020, all prescriptions, including all controlled substances, unless specifically exempted, must be e-prescribed.