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A Prescription for Safety, Legibility, and Ease of Use

25 May 2021
Blog

eClinicalWorks

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Webinar covers new standard coming September 1

Back in 2000, Donald M. Berwick, then CEO at the Boston-based Institute for Healthcare Improvement, coauthored an editorial article lamenting the persistence of paper medical records and handwritten prescriptions.

“We should now hope that the death knell has at last been sounded for the handwritten paper prescription; and the paper medical record, a dinosaur long overdue for extinction, may at last be en route to replacement by far more useful and reliable automated systems,” Berwick and fellow author Lucian M. Leape wrote in “Safe health care: are we up to it?”

More than 20 years later, Berwick’s question has been largely answered in the affirmative. The majority of U.S. medical practices have embraced Electronic Health Records (EHR). Prescriptions, too, are going electronic, starting with controlled substances, but soon to encompass all.

All the 411 you need on 2017071

As part of that shift, eClinicalWorks^® is proactively preparing our customers for September 1, 2021, when our eRx partner, Surescripts, will move to the new SCRIPT Standard Version 2017071.

Simply put, the new standard will bring greater ease and clarity to the sharing of prescription information between providers and pharmacies. There’s plenty to learn, but eClinicalWorks has made it simple by collecting everything at our Customer Support Portal, where you can get an overview, watch a video, and sign up for live webinars being held through June 30.

Some highlights of the new standard

Among the improvements Standard 2017071 is bringing to the world of electronic prescribing are:

Enhanced matching logic that will reduce manual processes and the chances of transcription errors
An assign future request feature that will route prescriptions to the right providers, putting an end to confusion when physicians are away or are covering for one another
A larger, 1,000-character limit that allows for greater detail in complex prescriptions, helping to ensure that data is not truncated, and thus minimizing the risks of misunderstanding and harm
A requirement that height and weight be included for dosages based on weight or BMI; all patients under 19 are classified as juveniles and subject to the rule
Greater clarity with state-controlled prescriptions and Narcotic Addiction DEA Numbers (NADEAN), which will now be auto-populated to avoid transcription/data entry errors

Action today will flatten the learning curve!

If you’ve already clicked the customer support portal link, you already know how we’ve changed some wording here and there, polished those Jelly Beans, introduced ways to reduce sticky notes around your office, and made some common-sense housekeeping changes for a better user experience.

In short, one visit to the portal and you’ll be well on your way to a seamless transition to the new standard by August 31, 2021. The next morning, your practice can simply continue to send electronic prescriptions.

But there’s one more tip we have to share: By upgrading to the latest version of eClinicalWorks now and keeping up with each monthly release, your providers can flatten the learning curve! Taking each monthly release means your providers will learn new features in the eClinicalWorks EHR as they become available.

Then, when we include the new SCRIPT Standard 2017071 with a version of eClinicalWorks to be released later this year, they should handle the transition with ease.

To request an upgrade, contact your Strategic Account Manager today!