Oct. 12, 2009 (PR Newswire) --

DES MOINES, Iowa, Oct. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Iowa's largest integrated health care system and the nation's largest provider of electronic prescribing software today announced the launch of an initiative to convert a majority of the state's physicians from paper prescriptions -- known to be the cause of costly medical errors -- to electronic prescribing.

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The new partnership between Iowa Health System and Allscripts (Nasdaq: MDRX), called ePrescribe Iowa, will offer a free Web-based e-prescribing solution to physicians throughout Iowa. Less than three percent of all prescriptions written in Iowa in 2008 -- the last year for which statistics are available -- were produced using e-prescribing software, according to Surescripts, a company that connects prescribers in all 50 states to pharmacies and the nation's leading payers.

ePrescribe Iowa also is a component of HealthNet connect, Iowa Health System's 3,200-mile fiber-optic network that stretches from Denver to Chicago. It is a first step toward a larger goal of implementing connected Electronic Health Records (EHR), the technology at the center of President Obama's effort to improve health care quality and reduce costs.

ePrescribe Iowa automates the process of writing prescriptions and transmitting them to pharmacies while alerting physicians to potentially dangerous drug-to-drug interactions, drug allergies, dosage errors and other problems that can occur when writing prescriptions on paper. The stand-alone solution provided by Iowa Health System and Allscripts also provides physicians a simple way to transition from paper medical records to a full Electronic Health Record, software that automates everyday clinical tasks such as ePrescribing and connects physician practices with other key health care stakeholders including insurance companies, laboratories and hospitals.

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Iowa Senator Jack Hatch, D-Des Moines, a leader in state health care reform, voiced his support for the initiative at a news conference announcing the program at Iowa Health System offices in Des Moines.

"By combining the information sharing capabilities of HealthNet connect with free e-prescribing to enhance patient care and safety, Iowa Health System and Allscripts are taking an important step toward realizing President Obama's vision of an interconnected health care system," Sen. Hatch said.

"Physicians understand that the electronic health revolution is upon us and we must change our old habits of practicing medicine on paper," said Joel Waymire, M.D., Walnut Creek Pediatrics. "Electronic prescribing is an easy fix for our current system of handwritten prescriptions that are hand-delivered to the pharmacy, and a relatively easy first step to adopting a full electronic health record."

Bill Leaver, President and Chief Executive Officer of Iowa Health System, added: "Writing prescriptions electronically is a key means of enhancing the quality and safety of patient care, and Iowa Health System is proud to offer the first program to provide this life-saving technology to every Iowa physician at no cost, along with the connectivity needed to make it work in the most remote rural facilities."

"By adding significant new capabilities to HealthNet connect, this offering will help accelerate Iowa Health System's efforts to connect urban and rural health care facilities and enable better care - the core mission of Iowa Health System," Leaver said. "Additionally, this statewide e-prescribing will help physicians take an important first step toward the adoption of fully connected electronic health records."

Glen Tullman, Chief Executive Officer of Allscripts, the country's leading provider of Electronic Health Records, called this statewide e-prescribing offering "the first statewide program to provide physicians with the information and connectivity they need, free of charge, to begin the journey toward safe, efficient 21st century electronic care.