Wow! How did I miss this thread. You know I just can't resist posting on this one. Not to mention by conversation I had with the DEA in Boston about prescriptions and faxing.
DISCLAIMER: These are just my opinions and experiences. Please don't angry with me. Well, I guess you can.
Jim, as far as pharmacists who accept faxed scripts, I would simply point out to them that it is perfectly valid. We even fax CIII and above scripts. But, that is only because some pharmacies take them. Not all do, so I am stopping that.
But, like Leslie said, we sent out our scrips by fax in the beginning. NO pharmacy has said no. There is a lot of competition here -- tons -- so a simple letter to the owner of the pharmacy will probably make a big difference.
I have to say, seriously, in over three years of faxing scripts, no one has called back to say they have changed their mind. No one. I thought they would at first, but most don't in the ten minutes after leaving the office. And, as cool as it is to hand them the script, they like the fax much better. They don't always have the script ready, especially meds that need to be made up and can't easily be put back, but the perception is that they will.
@Brian -- I may be misunderstanding. How is giving the hard copy and different than faxing when it comes to their realizing an allergy. If they did go somewhere else, we would refax the script. We practically never call in a script. We always fax them, which gives us a better record of the transaction.
@crestondoc -- You are correct about the pain it would be to have the staff fax the script. Besides, it defeats the whole purpose of PC faxing. The saving of paper. I probably fax at least 20 to 30 scripts per day. So, that saves paper. The problem with the free or pay eScripts online is they don't interface with AC so you have the medications documented in AC unless you document it twice, and the ones I have seen are cumbersome. When I used RingCentral, about 8% didn't make it through. Most of the users here who fax from the PC, do so with a networked, digital PC to Fax and Fax to PC fax machine.
