Case study: E-prescribing PDAs save Mississippi millions per month

It looks like another rousing public sector success for e-prescribing, this time in Mississippi. A new program there giving just a couple hundred physicians an e-prescribing equipped PDA is saving the state's Medicaid program $1.2 million per month. The state is so happy with its initial success, which includes savings of nearly $27,000 a month on hospitalizations, that it plans to expand the program substantially.

State officials behind the program say that physicians using the e-prescribing function wrote fewer prescriptions and prescribed lower-cost medications. They also say that the program improves the quality of care. The PDA software not only allows doctors to dispatch prescriptions, it also sends them real-time drug interaction alerts, gives them the ability to look at patients' recent medication histories, and allows them to find out whether patients are filling their prescriptions or not. Having this additional information helps them prescribe and monitor patients more effectively, officials say.

To learn more about the e-prescribing program:
- read this Government Health IT News piece

Related Articles:
Trend: Momentum builds for e-prescribing technology. Report
Study: E-prescribing cuts med errors 66 percent. Report
E-prescribing apps still dogged by problems. Article
Ohio health system rolls out e-prescribing. Report
NH governor backs e-prescribing. Report
Here's proof: E-prescribing saves bucks, lives. Report