MINNEAPOLIS, March 6, 2008—Five physician organizations are launching a website, GetRxConnected.com website, focused on helping doctors move from prescriptions written on paper pads or entered into a computer and faxed to pharmacies.

The website includes a technology guide to help doctors move to e-prescribing. It also provides perspectives of other doctors on the benefits of e-prescribing, and points to connected pharmacies.

The effort, with support from such groups as the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), is aimed at the 94 percent of doctors who still do not write prescriptions electronically, said William Jessee, M.D., president and CEO of the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA).

Backers of electronic prescribing say it can save lives and reduce medical errors. About 8,000 people in the U.S. die every year because of prescription errors, said fpormer Rep. Newt Gingrich, founder of the Center for Health Transformation.

Some doctors are still fighting the move to e-prescribing and suggesting the U.S. government shouldn't mandate the change, he said.

"Their argument is, 'I reserve the right to issue paper prescriptions and kill people,'" Gingrich said at the awards event. "'It's wrong for you to require me to be safe'."

Gingrich praised legislation introduced by Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts that would provide grants to doctors to defray the costs of e-prescribing software and other tools. The E-Meds bill would also increase payments to doctors who switch to e-prescribing.

Gingrich predicted Congress would pass the Kerry bill sometime this year.