From Medicare, a push against paper

WASHINGTON - The push for paperless prescriptions is about to get a boost: Starting in January, doctors who e-prescribe can get bonus pay from Medicare.

For patients, the benefits are obvious - from shorter drugstore waits to increased safety, as pharmacists no longer squint to decipher doctors' handwriting.

But persuading US doctors to ditch their prescription pads for electronic prescribing so far has been a long, uphill battle. Only about 10 percent of doctors are taking the plunge.

Still, the movement is gaining steam as Medicare warns that its bonus payments are for a short time only: Holdouts still sticking to paper in 2012 will find their Medicare payments cut.

And continuing the push for medical information technology is a key part of President-elect Barack Obama's health-reform plans, in hopes that moving to computerized records - not just prescriptions, but also all those troublesome paper charts that contribute to medical errors and wasted care - ultimately could save millions of dollars a year.

What's a paperless prescription? It's when the doctor writes it by computer and sends it directly to the drugstore by computer.

Some doctors do write prescriptions via computer but then hand the patient a printout, or it arrives at the drugstore as a fax. Those don't count as true electronic prescribing.

ASSOCIATED PRESS