The Massachusetts Medical Society today applauded the Massachusetts Legislature's passage of Senate 2076, An Act Relative to Electronic Signatures, paving the way for physician use of electronic prescriptions in the Commonwealth.

"The passage of this bill," said Thomas E. Sullivan, M.D., president of the 18,000-member Massachusetts Medical Society, "is a huge step forward for patient safety and convenience, as well as streamlining the prescription process for physicians and pharmacists. The Medical Society and its physicians thank Senator Richard Moore (D-Uxbridge), Senate Chairman of the Joint Committee on Health Care, and Representative Brian Dempsey (D-Haverhill), Chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology, for their hard work and support of this landmark legislation."

In Massachusetts, prescription writing is governed by a combination of state and federal laws and regulations, developed to protect the public from the inappropriate and fraudulent distribution of powerful medicines and drugs. The last major revision and update of these laws occurred in the 1970s.

Senate 2076 permits the electronic transmission of a prescription with an electronic signature and accompanying electronic instructions of the prescribing physician. The prescription can now be sent from the physician directly to the pharmacy of the patient's choice without altering the prescription information. The Federal government will still control the standards for electronic signatures for narcotic prescriptions and other federally-controlled substances.

"The laws and regulations governing prescriptions are now consistent with existing technology," said Sullivan, "and this significant change gives the Department of Public Health authority to bring our prescribing regulations into the 21st century." Most of all, this change will bring many benefits to the interactions of physician, patient, and pharmacist, the most important of which is patient safety."

Sullivan said the Massachusetts Medical Society is the first state medical society to endorse an electronic prescription program for its members with the signing of an agreement with DrFirst, a Rockville, Maryland-based provider of electronic healthcare solutions for physicians and hospitals. The agreement, announced just last month, offers Medical Society members a state-of-the-art electronic prescribing service that can operate on multiple electronic platforms such as desktops, laptops, and PDAs. The service is suitable for large practice groups, clinics, and independent physician associations.

According to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, the use of an electronic prescribing system could help cut medication errors significantly. Illegible prescriptions and confusion caused by similar sounding drug names are not uncommon. It is estimated that medication errors alone contribute to more than 7,000 deaths annually.

The Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS), with 18,000 physicians and student members, is dedicated to educating and advocating for the physicians and patients of Massachusetts. Founded in 1781, the MMS is the oldest continuously operating medical society in the country. The Society owns and publishes The New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal Watch family of professional newsletters, AIDS Clinical Care, and produces HealthNews, a consumer health publication. For more information, visit www.massmed.org.