In 2010, the DEA approved sending some control substances through the mail as long as they were prescribed. It took two years of testing with government guidance in Berkshire County, MA, before they were able to launch EPCS (E-prescribed Controlled Substances). From this, a certain amount of business have emerged to be able to sell these prescriptions online. Individual states have different laws when it comes to electronic prescriptions.
Why ePrescribing? a report in the ehealth initiative has estimated that ePrescribing could save up to 29 billion for the US healthcare system, by limiting certain pharmacy interaction. They also are more accurate in detecting medical duplication and are less error prone. Another potential benefit of the same vain for ePrescribing is to do some tasks for physicians, one of the most prominent task is dose calculation specially for children and some drugs where the dose is weight dependent, previously these calculations were done manually and were liable to human error, the study here shows the great benefit of using ePrescribing in ambulatory settings to calculate pediatric dose.
Level of Electronic Processing
Level 1: This is a simple system consisting of a reference handbook containing drug information, dosing calculators. The information is available only if the physician explicitly looks for the information.
Level 2: Allows searching for a drug name and gives generally used dosage details.
Level 3: Patient unique data such as allergy, and information can be stored. So the physician can prescribe drugs according to the specific needs of the patient. The system also provides alerts for drug allergies.
Level 4: Medication history for the patient is maintained which enables alerts for drug to drug interaction. It also provides reminders for renewal.
Level 5: Linkage between the physician’s office and pharmacy. Physician can transmit the prescription to the location of the pharmacy specified by the patient.
Level 6: Integrated with an electronic medical record, which enables disease management and access to lab tests, problem list and diagnosis.
What Are Controlled Substances?
Controlled substances are drugs or other substances that are regulated under federal law depending on medical use, potential for abuse, and addictiveness.
Schedule I: High abuse potential, no medical use, considered unsafe
Schedule II: High abuse potential, approved for medical use, has severe dependence risk
Schedule III: Lower abuse potential, approved for medical use, has moderate or low dependence risk
Schedule IV: Relatively low potential, approved for medical use, limited dependence risk
Schedule V: Drugs that are cough medicines with codeine
Here is a video that might explain it a little better, even if it is a pitch for a service: