How much does e-prescribing cost?
Costs vary depending on which kind of hardware and software (electronic medical record (EMR) systems vs. a stand-alone e-prescribing system) a practice chooses. Stand-alone e-prescribing applications range from free to approximately $2,500 per year per prescriber. Be sure to look for local, state or national initiatives that subsidize the cost of e-prescribing systems. There may be additional fees to integrate patient demographic information from your practice management system into the e-prescribing application; however, the alternative means that you will need to enter each patient into the system as you prescribe, which can be time consuming and may be a barrier to using the system. EMR systems offer more comprehensive functionalities, but are more costly, complex and time consuming to implement. According to the Congressional Budget Office, office-based EMR systems cost about $25,000 to $45,000 per prescriber. Estimated annual costs to operate and maintain an EMR system (e.g., soft
