Major US pharmacy push for e-Rxing

A major marketing campaign to promote electronic prescribing has been launched in the USA by the leading retail pharmacy chains and thousands of independent pharmacists. The aim is to raise public awareness of the potential advantages of e-prescribing and highlight the current bottle-neck in the system: the relatively small number of physicians willing or able to adopt the practice.

A dedicated web site (www.learnabouteprescriptions.com) has been set up to support the campaign, which also involves signs at 26,000 participating outlets, from the biggest specialist chain, Walgreens, and the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, to small independent pharmacies.

In a statement to launch the campaign, SureScripts, which administers electronic systems for physicians and drug retailers, claimed that 70% of pharmacies are ready for e-prescribing versus only 6% of physicians.