CVS.com, the online subsidiary of the Woonsocket-based CVS Pharmacy, has reached an agreement with MediaLogic, Inc., to receive instantaneous and secure prescriptions directly from physicians. MediaLogic, Inc. has developed a Web-enabled, secure network to connect patients to their physicians through AboutMyHealth.net, as well as connecting physicians to CVS.com. No longer confined to communicating in a doctor’s office, patients are able to send their physicians secure messages or prescription requests via the Internet.
While reading the secure message, the physician has complete and confidential access to the patent’s medical record. The physician can easily respond to the patient and at the patient’s request, forward instructions to CVS.com. These prescription requests are processed through three cross-checking databases: patient drug history, scientific drug information and guideline reference, and the patient’s medical data. The patient can then receive the medication in the mail or pick it up at a CVS Pharmacy.
”We believe this arrangement is a tremendous step that helps consumers and helps drive online pharmaceutical sales,” said Martin DeBono, a senior analyst for Gomez Advisors, a provider of e-commerce research and analysis.
Virtually all prescriptions in the United States are handwritten. A recent report in the Journal of the American Medical Association stated that more than 15 percent of physicians do not write legibly on a regular basis. Many researchers are now calling for the widespread utilization of computerized prescribing systems to help pharmacists correctly interpret a doctor’s instructions in order to quickly and accurately fill patients’ prescriptions.
”The pharmacist is the primary layer of defense between the patient and an adverse drug reaction,” said Tom Pigott, president and chief executive officer at CVS.com. “Utilizing this new electronic prescription system to connect patients to doctors and doctors to pharmacists will cut health care costs for both doctors and patients and help ensure patient safety at the same time.”
