E-Prescribing Becomes Legal In All 50 States

Every state in the U.S.A. now allows e-prescribing. As far as I know, not even one Canadian province has legalized the practice yet.

From Information Week:
Alaska, the 50th state to join the union, this week also became the last state to legalize e-prescribing.

The milestone means that pharmacists and doctors in all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., can legally exchange drug prescription information electronically.

E-prescribing is designed to reduce drug errors by eliminating illegible handwriting, automatically checking for medication interactions, red-flagging drug allergies, as well as streamline prescription renewals and refill processes.

The Institute of Medicine estimates that health IT, such as e-prescriptions, can prevent about 1.5 million medication errors in the U.S. annually. ...more