Rexall testing e-prescription system

Pharmacy company Rexall said Tuesday that it is testing an "e-prescription" program at selected stores in five Canadian communities.

E-prescribing is a way fordoctors tosend prescriptions toadrugstore using acomputeror a handheld device like a BlackBerry.

"There are proven benefits to the patient from e-prescribing, including the potential to reduce the incidence of medication and dispensing errors due to illegible prescriptions,"Dr. Arif Bhimji, president of Alberta's Medicentres, said in a releaseissued by Rexall.

E-prescribing can cut prescribing errors,dosing errors and harm to patients, Rexall said, citing astudy published in the Health Services Research Journal in June 2007.

The system is being tried in three Ontario communities Toronto, Mississauga and Keswick and inCalgary and Edmonton.

Rexall is using a tool called theZRx Prescriber, a web applicationthat enables physicians to fill out prescriptions and make them available to pharmacists, who can view them online via unique barcodes.

About 2,000 doctors havesigned up to use the tool, said Yves Marmet, president and CEO of ZoomMed Inc., which makes the system.