It’s not every day the dental industry celebrates the arrival of a new law.  This summer, you started using electronic prescriptions for controlled substances containing an opioid. If you view Virginia’s electronic prescribing law as a lead domino, the many dominoes that follow each represent opportunities to increase the speed of your operation and reduce current inconveniences to your patients.

Consider examining a literal monetary cost to the time consumed by you, your staff and your patients just to navigate the current paper system.  There are calls to and from pharmacies. Time spent looking up drug information on websites or in reference books.  Patients may leave the appointment without their prescription.  Adherence drops when a patient feels inconvenienced when dropping off or waiting to pick up prescriptions.  The list goes on.

Every minute spent by you and your team can be calculated into a direct cost based on wages alone.  However, when you consider second and third-order effects of interrupted workflow, the indirect costs grow even greater.  Add these costs on top of the dangers of unintended interactions (or undetected prescription abuse) and the weight of the paper system really starts to show itself. 

Compliance with the law is just one benefit of e-Prescribing.  Speeding up your workflow is key, so look for the following functions in an e-Prescribe software and make sure they are included in the flat subscription rate.

Prescribe on Your Office Computers, Laptop, Tablet or Phone

A truly comprehensive cloud e-Prescribing solution allows you to e-Prescribe from desktops and laptops at no additional cost, from any location, any time.

Integrate with Your Practice Management System (EHR)

With true integration, your EHR populates your patient’s information directly from your system into your e-Prescribing software, eliminating duplicate work.

Single-Click Access to the Virginia PMP

The national average duration to access a state PMP website is more than four minutes and 50 clicks. However, a comprehensive e-Prescribing cloud software that is properly integrated to your EHR can reduce this to one or two clicks. 

This is by no means a comprehensive list but it does shed light on opportunities to speed up your workflow, protect your patients and improve profit through productivity.

iCoreConnect, a VDA Services Endorsed Partner, is a cloud-based, software company focused on increasing profit and operational speed in dentistry. VDA members receive special discount pricing on iCoreConnect’s services, including iCoreRx e-Prescribing software. Visit iCoreConnect.com/vda, or call 888.810.7706.