An article that appeared in the July 19 Buffalo News, “Report shows local increase in electronic prescriptions,” noted that 27 percent of doctors in Western New York currently use an e-prescribing system. As a physician who has embraced e-prescribing technology, I understand the time and resource commitment it takes to adopt such a system, but I strongly advocate all physicians do so sooner rather than later. E-prescribing technology provides doctors with a valuable tool that can reduce adverse drug events, serious injuries and even patient deaths.

Our practice, Lifetime Health Medical Group, was an early adopter of eprescribing technology, and currently 65 percent of our prescriptions are sent electronically. That number would be significantly higher but law requires certain prescriptions to be printed. In addition, some of our patients use pharmacies that do not yet have e-prescribing capability.

The most obvious advantage of eprescribing is legibility, but there are so many more. E-prescribing systems interface with the patient’s medical record. This can save a patient’s life by flagging interactions or redundancies with other medications, as well as referencing a new prescription against allergies and patient-specific risks such as age or chronic conditions.

It’s important to note that true e-prescribing is when data is sent directly from the physician’s computer to the pharmacy’s computer. Faxing a prescription to the pharmacy, or handing a patient a computer-generated prescription are not considered e-prescribing.

E-prescribing is a much more secure method of issuing a prescription than a pen and script pad. The systems that physicians and hospitals use are proprietary and no unauthorized user can change data on the prescription itself.

From an administrative standpoint, e-prescribing is far more efficient. Information entered into the system and sent to a pharmacy is also saved to the patient’s medication record. That information can easily be searched by any number of criteria.

By using e-prescribing, I’ve found I can make life easier for my patients. I can send their prescription to a pharmacy before they even leave the exam room. This eliminates the need to drop off the prescription, and patients spend less time waiting.

I recommend people ask their physicians if they use e-prescribing, and if not, request they do so for both their safety and convenience.

There is a lot of data that supports eprescribing in terms of safety, security and efficiency. But it’s the patient satisfaction, efficiency and overall contribution to improving patient health that proves it’s worthwhile to me.

Adopting e-prescribing as the norm is an absolute necessity if doctors are to provide the highest level of care to their patients. After all, it is within our responsibility to do so: “Do no harm . . .”

Doug Golding, M. D., is chief medical information officer and medical director for Lifetime Health Medical Group’s Buffalo region.