Nevada docs get nearly free e-prescribing software

Nevada’s largest health plan, a medical records software company and the Clark County Medical Society are working together to provide low-cost e-prescribing software to every physician in the state.

Under the plan, physician members of the society can get a free 10-year license for the Web-based software from Allscripts and two years of monthly maintenance. Other Nevada physicians also can get the software at no charge, but they must pay small monthly fees for maintenance.

The initiative also includes Sierra Health Services, the state’s largest health plan, which has selected Allscripts’ electronic health record (EHR) software for use by 250 doctors in its Southwest Medical Associates unit. During the past year, the physicians wrote more than 1 million electronic prescriptions.

That experience showed that e-prescribing would reduce errors and lead more doctors to prescribe generic drugs, Sierra Health Services officials said.

Leaders of the initiative said it was a starting point for the transition to using health information technology systems for medical records and other functions besides prescriptions. “We…believe electronic prescribing is a great on-ramp to the electronic health care highway we provide through our full” EHR, said Glen Tullman, chief executive officer of Allscripts.

Detailed information on how the free software offer will work will be available within the next month, a news release states.