AHRQ Takes a Look at E-Prescribing Issues

According tot his post on FierceHealthIT the AHRQ wants to know how many medical practices have successfully implemented functional e-prescribing systems and what factors hurt and help adoption.

The biggest problem that the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has encountered is that most e-prescribing systems do not have the same features, and so rolling out with a national system might be difficult. Also, pharmacies are having trouble with e-prescribing software and integrating it into workflow. Because of this, the AHRQ is planning to conduct a 2 year survey which will include physicians, medical directors, IT administrators, pharmacists and other relevant staff members at 110 organizations as participants.

Intel and General Electric Plan to Add More Connectivity Options to Intel Health Guide

According to this article in eWeek Intel and General Electric will invest roughly $250 million over the course of the next five years to develop and improve IT technologies in the Intel Health Guide to better aid linking patients to their physicians and caregivers.

The improved system will allow patients to directly connect with their physicians via high-speed broadband and residential phone services. Louis Burns, vice president and general manager of the Intel Digital Health Group mentions, "We believe that deploying technology in the home can help pave the way for a more personalized, cost-effective health care system and we will continue to innovate and develop products that achieve this."

It will be interesting to see how new technology and improvements to the IT infrastructure will pan out over the next couple of years.

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