Dr. Jan Cornell Keweenaw Memorial Medical Center Laurium, Michigan
Background
Dr. Jan Cornell works at Keweenaw Memorial Medical Center, a family practice of 15 physicians in Laurium, Michigan. On a typical day, he sees 30 patients and fills approximately 20 prescriptions.
Dr. Cornell had been aware of e-prescribing technology and its benefits for a few years, but two factors pushed him to considering implementing it in his practice. First was a significant rise in the number
of calls he was receiving from pharmacists needing an interpretation of his handwriting. Second was the number of medical errors caused by paper prescriptions each year.
Dr. Cornell heard about NEPSI and the eRx NOW software through a health IT publication. It was such a huge initiative with so many impressive corporate sponsors that it was
all over the news when it was first announced. In his view, it was as though there suddenly appeared to be an effective solution to the problems he and his colleagues were facing with paper-based prescribing.
Barriers to adoption
From Dr. Cornell's perspective the single largest barrier was cost. Cost is an issue whether you're in a small or large practice. Given what other e-Prescribing providers were charging for their technology it
was difficult for him to justify the investment. Dr. Cornell was also concerned about the time investment it would take to get the software up and running in his office, and get his staff members comfortable with it.
The concern was that technological and operator errors would replace the handwriting errors.
Benefits to the practice
The NEPSI coalition is a powerhouse of key healthcare stakeholders and corporations. Just seeing that companies like Allscripts, Dell and Microsoft are sponsoring the initiative is enough to make anyone take notice of
NEPSI's eRx NOW program. But for Dr. Cornell it's "the simplicity of implementing and using eRx NOW that really makes the program stand out". He didn't have to download anything or purchase any new hardware, so there wasn't
a major disruption in his workflow. The software was literally up and running in Dr. Cornell's office in no time.
Before using eRx NOW, Dr. Cornell had noticed an increasing amount of frustration within the practice. His staff was getting bogged down with calls from pharmacists requesting clarification on a prescription, and his patients
were getting irritated when a prescription wasn't ready on time. Now, Dr. Cornell's nurses have more time to assist him in providing patient care and his office manager is free to meet patient's scheduling and billing needs.
eRx NOW adds a layer of safety for Dr. Cornell and his patients by performing drug-to-drug interaction checks. The amount of prescription information and patient history eRx NOW contains enhances the quality of care that he provides to his patients,
and being able to access information about a certain type of medication before he prescribes it helps him to make the best decision about what type of medication to prescribe.
Final thoughts
"I encourage all of my colleagues to use eRx NOW in their practice," said Dr. Cornell. His view is that there really is no reason why every physician shouldn't take advantage of the free eRx NOW software. He continued,
"Electronic prescribing is the best way to ensure that you are providing your patients with quality healthcare, and NEPSI has provided a simple, safe and secure way to do so."
