Electronic prescription services company DrFirst Inc. has modified its Web-based Rcopia system to be compatible with the small screens of mobile devices such as the Apple iPhone.

RcopiaMini will enable physicians and their staff to perform essential functions of electronic prescribing in real-time on a mobile browser through a carrier's Wi-Fi and broadband connection.

"Basically physicians are using electronic prescribing and most applications are â?¦ on the Web," said Irene Froehlich, director of marketing at DrFirst, Rockville, MD. "Most other e-prescribing vendors cannot show on the small screen of the iPhone."

The company's goal is to ensure that its new mobile Rcopia experience delivers the same usability feel as the original Web version.

To that end, DrFirst has formatted RcopiaMini for the smaller screen, providing doctors with easy navigation of a full-featured version of Rcopia on one of the most advanced mobile phones in the market, the iPhone.

In addition, the always-on connectivity of the iPhone and the Wi-Fi connection of the iPod Touch will let physicians quickly and securely prescribe from anywhere, the company claims.

"It runs on Wi-Fi, so technically if you have your Treo, you can access it through the Treo or other WiFi-enabled devices," Ms. Froehlich said. "It's more standardized for the iPhone and the iPod Touch but it still works on the other devices."

The service works by electronically sending prescriptions and renewals to the patient's retail or mail order pharmacy. RcopiaMini checks for patient insurance eligibility, formulary and patient medication history.

The application also offers clinical decision support tools to check prescriptions for drug to drug and drug to allergy interactions and appropriate dosing.

With the addition of the iPhone and iPod Touch, DrFirst helps physicians on a broad set of e-prescribing platforms, including Apple, Treo and HP iPaq handheld devices as well as desktop and tablet systems.

Rcopia is also available in standalone versions for MS Windows Mobile for PocketPC and Palm OS, enabling physicians to create prescriptions in the absence of an always-on Wi-Fi connectivity.

RcopiaMini is available for free to existing Rcopia customers.

DrFirst is marketing RcopiaMini to its existing customer base, Ms. Froehlich said. The emphasis currently is not on the retail market.

"There's a federal decision being made -- a bill that may require all physicians to use e-prescribing," Ms. Froehlich said. "If that passes, then [RcopiaMini] will market itself."