Comedians and pharmacists have been mocking physicians’ illegible handwriting for years. But there’s nothing funny about an undecipherable prescription if the wrong medication or dosage puts a patient at risk.

That’s one reason the nation’s health care system is in the midst of a broad effort to marry medical record-keeping with modern technology.

In another prescription related example, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire is asking the Legislature to spend $1.4 million for an online database that would give doctors and pharmacists current, accurate information about a patient’s authorized medications.

Access to such information would reduce chances of mix-ups and make it easier to avoid adverse drug interactions when a patient can’t remember all the medications he or she is taking, or is in no condition to tell the physician who’s prescribing another. Or when a patient is traveling and needs treatment from an unfamiliar doctor.

Prescriptions are just one part of the picture, though, and while Gregoire’s proposal is a necessary step, health care providers and consumers need to get comfortable with the idea of applying information technology to the management of medical records.

While significant obstacles must be cleared before the country converts to full use of electronic medical records, movement is happening on a variety of fronts.

In September, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich delivered the keynote speech to a symposium in Spokane, praising Inland Northwest Health Services for its “pioneering” work at making patient information electronically accessible.

Meanwhile, according to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control, the percentage of office-based physicians in the United States who use at least partial electronic medical records rose from 18.2 in 2001 to 23.9 in 2005. And it’s not just about sloppy penmanship.

CDC’s National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, referenced above, identifies four features of a doctor’s practice that are deemed minimally necessary for a complete electronic medical records system: ordering of prescriptions, ordering of tests, receipt of test results and physician’s notes.

Ultimately, shifting from paper to electronic record-keeping improves both effectiveness and cost containment, not to mention convenience to patients who would see a significant reduction in the time they spend filling out forms.

Conversion, however, imposes upfront costs and requires agreements about standardized forms, and interoperability among systems. Add to that the public’s skittishness over privacy and the challenges are apparent. Challenges can be overcome, however.

As a report from the federal Commission on Systemic Interoperability notes: “Although your airline ticket confirmation number, your rental car record, and even your cellular phone bills and calling history are available 24/7 online, your medical records are locked away in filing cabinets somewhere, partially handwritten and partially typed, stored in paper folders and stacked alphabetically.”

Health care has some catching up to do, but it has plenty of models to follow – and compelling reasons to do so.