BLOOMINGTON, IN – HealthLINC, an Indiana-based health information exchange, has received federal funding to implement a new e-prescribing solution.

Through the support of the Bloomington Hospital Foundation and State Rep. Baron Hill, the technology will help connect physicians and pharmacies in the Greater Bloomington, Ind. area.

“We are pleased to learn that we will receive these funds and extremely grateful to Congressman Hill and his staff," said Todd Rowland, executive director of HealthLINC and director of medical informatics at Bloomington Hospital. "The funds will help us further our mission of improving the healthcare of Southern Indiana and allow us to significantly improve patient safety and quality through collaboration and technology.”

The e-prescribing tool, a feature of Axolotl's Elysium EMR, is a Web-based application designed to reduce medical errors by providing an electronic means for physicians to write and send prescriptions to pharmacies. According to a recent press release, approximately 7,000 deaths occur each year from medication errors, many relating to illegible handwriting.

HealthLINC will be providing Axolotl's EMR to the physician practices located in and around the southern part of Indiana. Officials say this solution will provide a higher level of quality of care by ensuring patient safety with  increased prescription accuracy. HealthLINC also hopes to lower care costs with the e-prescribing and improve  care access in the area.

“e-Prescribing is another component to changing how healthcare is rendered by physicians, and how it will be received by patients,” Rowland said. “It is a ‘behind the scenes’ change that will appreciably enhance patient safety while also improving efficiencies for clinicians and patients. HealthLINC is poised to be a leader in terms of shaping the national healthcare delivery system, allowing Indiana patients to be among the first to reap these important benefits.”