Home Forums Discussions Problems e-prescribe sending prescriptions as faxes

I upgraded to V6 at ACUC.

I have been trying to e-prescribe in order to get the 10 in by June 30, but when I look at the status of the prescriptions, there is an indication that they have all been sent by fax. I checked with the pharmacies and they all accept e-Rx. Also, none were shaded in yellow on the pharmacy list in AC.

Does anyone know what's wrong? Do we need to re-register for e-prescribe. I thought that existing e-prescribe users did not need to do so.

First of all, make sure the prescriptions have been codified. If they are in italics, that means they have not and these will always go by fax. Secondly, even if they are faxed, they are faxed via an eprecribing entity and you will still get credit for them.

And, unless I'm missing something (I'm trying to get my 10 in by June 30, too by the way, thanks to Jon's message the other day) whether you "get credit" for an e-script depends on whether that fancy G-code gets appended to the 10 bills you send to CMS between now and June 30. There's no verification process at the pharmacy or by CMS. It's an honor system... right?

That is the way I understand it.

Help! Please tell me how to send scripts as a fax. I want to do this for controlled substances, but we can't figure it out, so I have to print them out, walk them to the fax machine, dial the number and fax them the old fashion way.

After you complete the prescription and click "1. prepare script" and then 2. "prescribe", two of the options are "preview script" and "print to default printer". Either can be used to fax out of the eRx program.

The eprescribe program won't let me send controlled substances, even by FAX.

I can print to default printer, then FAX the paper copy, but it is easier just to write an Rx and give it to the patient.

If there were a way to select the printer (the only other option is "print to default printer", then I could fax it with UpDox, but that doesn't seem to be possible, either.

how can "print to default printer" be used to fax? That is precisely my issue.

Many fax programs allow you to fax by using the "Print" function. On some machines we use a program called "Fax Talk" which is inexpensive and we find it to be very functional. Updox will also do it. There are free programs that do this as well.
In either case, when you click "preview prescriptions", it opens a view of the prescription. At the top is a printer icon (which for some reason looks different in V6). Click it, and in the print dialog box that opens, your default printer will be highlighted (probably in blue). Hit the down arrow to view your other printers, which include options to fax. Select the one you want, and fax.

Tom, this should allow you to select "Updox Print Interface" as one of your choices. Note that Updox must be running on that machine for it to show up as a choice. This is one of the many less well-known benefits of Updox.

If you hit the "Preview Prescriptions" button, it will then preview the page and allow you to select which printer you want to send it to. That way you can bypass the default printer (in our case loaded with security paper) and send it to a fax printer.

You can, but only if you set up your fax device as the default printer.

The better option is to preview the prescription, then select printing it, then select a printer- your fax device printer and finally select or enter the phone number for the pharmacy and hit send from the fax device (printer)

This also should only work if you are using a scanned signature file to add to your prescriptions. Otherwise the faxed prescription will show up at the pharmacy unsigned

Greg

E-prescriptions are not yet ready for controlled substances. The DEA and the states are still trying to work this out.

You can fax a signed prescription for a controlled substance to a pharmacy (not Class 2).

If you are using a signature file to add your scanned signature to your prescriptions, you can send the prescription via fax if you have a fax device as one of your printer options.
Preview the prescription, select print and then select the fax device.

Greg