Current reports say that U.S. doctors soon may be issuing prescriptions via the Internet. The practice is viewed as a step toward reducing the cost of health care. At present, some doctors refuse to renew prescriptions by telephone _ not so much as a health precaution but rather as a way to increase the revenue stream for their practice as insurance companies and welfare health plans such as Medicaid and Medicare reduce the amounts of reimbursements for doctors' services. Doctors who go this route surely will refuse to issue e-prescritions, just as they now refuse to issue prescriptions by phone.
No doubt you know that faked "scripts" for drugs are a saleable commodity on the street _ as I once had occasion to warn a cardiologist's assistant who left a prescription pad unattended in a patient interview room. I could have made a lot of illegal money from picking up that pad. An acquaintance told me of having been prescribed a habit-forming painkiller that has mood-altering effects; she sold 300 pills at $10 each. With identity theft now a routine facet in crime circles and with keylogger malware a commonplace hazard of Internet use, is it really a good idea to have Rx info packets zipping through the ether?
The idea of e-scripts has been advocated for several years. What's new now is that U.S. regulatory officials are expected to give the practice official approval in the near future. It's unclear _ yet _ whether the rule would apply to prescription drugs that carry a high potential for abuse _ ones for which, now, a written prescription is required.
Good heavens, Relatively few doctors have established full electronic management of their practices. For many, a fax is the latest innovation _ or, perhaps, printing a prescription via the office Lexmark reather than writing it by hand. One can't even make appointments or other physician contact via email . And we want to let these doctors OK dangerous drugs via the net? Maybe I'm a hidebound dinosaur, but it sounds to me like an unhealthy practice. What do you think?
Links:
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN1938822620080620?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
http://www.learnabouteprescriptions.com/
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/editorials/13998746.html
http://www.al.com/healthfit/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/living/1210580137205770.xml&coll=2
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