Blount County Health Care Providers Get Electronic Prescribing Training

NASHVILLE – Tennessee’s Office of e-Health Initiatives will continue its statewide campaign to get health care providers ready to electronically prescribe, or e-prescribe, to patients with an e-prescribing training session, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., EST, on Monday, Feb. 9, at Blount Memorial Hospital’s Wellness Center at Springbrook, 220 Associates Blvd., in Aloca.

E-prescribing is the secure transmission, from a medical provider’s computer to a pharmacist’s computer, of a patient’s prescription that needs to be filled or re-filled.

“Tennessee is moving rapidly from early adoption to mainstream adoption of electronic prescribing,” said Governor Phil Bredesen.  “To ensure that we continue to move forward, we must educate both providers and patients as to how electronic prescribing will improve health care costs, delivery and safety.”

During the training session, attendees will learn:  1) How e-prescribing benefits providers, pharmacies and patients; 2) How to access the secure Tennessee e-Health Network; and 3) How to adopt e-prescribing into their everyday workflow for better patient care.

The Office of e-Health Initiatives has invited health care providers from across East Tennessee to participate and will be hosting other training sessions during the week on:  Tuesday, Feb. 10, at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital in Knoxville and at the Loudon Pediatric Clinic in Loudon; Wednesday, Feb. 11, at the Indian Path Conference Center in Kingsport; and Thursday, Feb. 12, at the Indian Path Conference Center and at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital.

Invited attendees are approved recipients of the Office of e-Health Initiatives’ physician connectivity grants.  In order to receive the grants, applicants must agree to electronically prescribe for two years.  The Office of e-Health Initiatives approved 1,747 health care providers in Tennessee to be grant recipients in 2008.

The Office of e-Health Initiatives kicked off the e-prescribing training campaign in January with training sessions at Cookeville Regional Hospital for health care providers in Tennessee’s Upper Cumberland region.

The number of active electronic prescribers in Tennessee stands at 1,950, up 149 percent from 2007 and 749 percent from 2006.

In 2008, Tennessee health care providers issued 1.5 million electronic prescriptions, representing 3 percent of all prescriptions written in the state.

The Office of e-Health Initiatives is the single coordinating authority for the exchange of electronic health information in Tennessee and works to improve the health of Tennesseans by ensuring providers have complete patient information at the point of care.

For more information on the Office of e-Health, visit www.tn.gov/ehealth or call 615-532-5041.

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