Few doctors sign off on online prescribing

In an effort to nudge more physicians to use technology that transmits prescription orders from a computer to the pharmacy, the federal government will begin offering bonuses in January to Medicare physicians who write electronic prescriptions. Patients say e-prescribing systems are much more convenient, and proponents say it offers the hope of sharply reducing dangerous and costly medication errors. But overall, just 2% of eligible prescriptions written in the United States are transmitted electronically, according to the eHealth Initiative.