US Senators call for end to e-Rxing delay

11 US Senators have written to the Attorney General Eric Holder and the newly-confirmed Heath and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to  call for the federal administration to end delays in a rule to simplify  the electronic prescribing of medicines.

The problem was originally caused by the requirement of the Drug  Enforcement Administration that certain restricted active ingredients  should be prescribed with a physical paper trail (Marketletters passim).  This meant that physicians would not be able to switch over to a  fully-paperless scrip system and jeopardize the hoped for savings of  scrapping paper prescriptions.

According to one of the letter's authors, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse  (Democrat, Rhode Island), only 18% of the USA's physicians currently use  e-prescribing. In addition to an estimated annual $20.0-billion saving  from fewer adverse events caused by prescribing errors, the Senators  argue that the technology is a "logical gateway" towards a comprehensive  countrywide patient record program, which advocates claim would save  $346.0 billion per year.