Alaska Begins Offering E-Prescriptions

In this file photo provided by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, a handheld pocket computer is shown. Electronic drug prescriptions can be delivered to pharmacists in all 50 states for the first time this week as Alaska became the final state in the nation to join the technological bandwagon. (AP Photo/Blue Cross via The News & Observer, file) (Anonymous - AP)

"It's going to have a definite impact on the smaller pharmacies," Davis said. "The small, independent pharmacies are going to be the ones that lag behind, if anyone does."

Shifting to electronic prescriptions requires a high-speed Internet connection, along with a special networking service and the doctors' prescription software, she said, and those costs have made some doctors and pharmacies reluctant to switch _ particularly among smaller businesses, which don't have the resources available to big corporations.

Still, doctors who want to do things the old way aren't being forced to switch.

"There's still a lot of doctors that are not used to utilizing their computers in their practice, so there's a little resistance," said Leslie Gallant of the Alaska State Medical Board. "It's the idea of being tied to the computer with an umbilical cord."

There are dozens of software vendors that offer prescription-writing products, posing a serious compatibility challenge to doctors and pharmacists. The solution could be networks like the Pharmacy Health Information Exchange, operated by SureScripts.

SureScripts is a privately held Virginia company, founded by the two main pharmacy trade groups, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the National Community Pharmacists Association.

The exchange acts as an interface that allows users to access and send information securely between clients using differing software applications. That includes allowing doctors to access prescription histories and send new ones to pharmacists.

That is beneficial because prescriptions can be filled between different states, said Rob Cronin, a spokesman for SureScripts. For example, people traveling can get a prescription filled without having to find a local doctor if they don't have their prescription with them.

About 10 percent to 20 percent of doctors have the technology to send prescriptions electronically and about 5 percent of doctors use the network regularly, according to SureScripts.

Democratic state Sen. Bettye Davis, chairwoman of the Health, Education and Social Services Committee, said that although it took a long time for Alaska to participate, the change will benefit everybody.

"I wish we could have been involved in it much sooner, but better late than never," she said.