One of the hottest topics at this year’s Center for Connected Health Symposium has been e-prescribing — and for good reason. It’s not only a hot topic in the health care community — it’s been gaining steam on Capitol Hill too.

Look no further than Senator John Kerry (D-MA) performing the opening keynote at the Symposium just this morning. Senator Kerry has been a leader on this issue and has introduced legislation that would provide financial incentives to encourage the adoption of electronic prescribing. Senator Kerry cited the enormous cost savings that would be realized through e-prescribing — not to mention the countless lives saved due to a decrease in prescription errors.

First — what is e-Prescribing? In short it’s a doctor submitting a prescription via electronic signature to a pharmacist over a secure broadband network. Next, why is e-prescribing such an important and trendy issue? Well, there are several reasons. The benefits of potential widespread adoption of e-prescribing are enormous. E-prescribing programs decrease errors in prescriptions — usually a prescription that’s illegible — which by itself leads to significant cost savings (and healthier patients). It also increases satisfaction among patients and efficiency in the filing of medical prescriptions.

The benefits are undeniable, but the majority of e-prescribing programs would not be available if not for the network that allows the transfer of large amounts of information at the speed of light. The amount of broadband-enabled programs and applications that we’re seeing at the Symposium are astounding. It’s pretty cool to see first hand the applications that are making connected health a reality for so many patients across the country.

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