eRx Collaborative says it is on its way to its initial goal of deploying e-prescribing in the offices of 3,400 Massachusetts physicians. As of Dec. 31, nearly 2,700 physicians plus their clinical staff had signed up to participate.

At the end of 2004, more than 1,500 physicians had the technology incorporated into their practices. The average weekly e-prescriptions written during the last month of Q4 were more than 27,000, a 77 percent increase during the same time frame of the previous quarter.

The eRx Collaborative was launched in October 2003 by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Tufts Health Plan and Zix Corporation. In August, Neighborhood Health Plan joined the collaborative. The joint initiative offers Massachusetts physicians a comprehensive e-prescribing program with the goal of dramatically improving patient safety, improving office efficiency and reducing medical costs.

In appreciation for physicians' efforts in implementing this new technology, the eRx Collaborative will extend the sponsorship of the e-prescribing technology through the end of 2005.

"We're enthusiastic about the community's response to e-prescribing," said Robert Mandel, MD. vice president of eHealth for BCBSMA. "In one year, we have succeeded in helping to improve the way providers practice medicine," he said.

"The eRx Collaborative has established a critical mass of participating physicians who daily demonstrate that electronic prescribing improves the safety and efficiency of the prescribing process," said Joseph Raduazzo, MD, medical director for pharmacy services at Tufts Health Plan. "Physicians now recommend electronic prescribing to their colleagues and have created a groundswell of interest in this program. We look forward to more achievements in 2005."