BCC Consulting has just announced the release of “Mobile e-Prescribing: The Killer App for IT Adoption.” The whitepaper explains in detail how mobile electronic prescribing, or e-prescribing (eRx), can improve patient safety while driving down costs. The whitepaper also argues that the greatest return on healthcare IT investment will result from delivering key eRx functionality through mobile devices (mRx).

According to BCC Principal, David Brooks, “Healthcare stands at a pivotal crossroad. Operating costs have soared, unchecked, for the last decade as the pharmaceutical industry’s overall share of healthcare spending has grown. Meanwhile, the industry has looked to IT to simultaneously improve the quality of care and patient outcomes while decreasing costs.” But the biggest obstacle – even more debilitating than healthcare’s historic underinvestment in technology infrastructure – has remained physician and clinical end-user adoption of enabling technologies. “Before IT can fulfill its promise in healthcare, vendors must provide solutions that compel user adoption. Government, of course, can offset the cost of technology overhead through various incentives. But at the end of the day, if clinicians don’t use the technology, its value is limited.”

"It (mRx) is basically a risk-free route into the electronic age, without the shock of total system and work flow replacement that you can expect with an EMR. It provides much of the value but at a fraction of the cost."

According to Brooks, mRx will prove an important litmus test for the industry. The potential return offered by mRx, particularly in light of its minimal infrastructure requirements, is huge. “Before we spend too much time discussing electronic medical records, and searching for funds to outfit the trillion dollar industry with more complex systems, let’s first prove that we can make effective use of existing solutions.”

About BCC:

BCC Consulting is a healthcare IT-focused strategy consulting firm. Through its publications, Going Mobile and BCC’s Mobile Resource Guide, BCC has established itself as the most trusted source for objective and insightful analysis on the mobile health technology market. For more information, including additional publications and services, please visit www.hitbcc.com.

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