As the adoption of electronic medical records continues to grow, it’s having a positive effect on the use of e-prescribing. Data from Alliance Life Sciences and Surescripts show that the practice is reaching mainstream proportions. Alliance notes that the number of physicians doing e-prescribing jumped by 25 percent to 489,000 in 2012 compared to the previous year.
The idea is to reduce medication errors that can occur with written prescriptions. According to a Surescripts study, small practices of 6-10 physicians have led the way, accounting for 65 percent of e-prescriptions in 2012. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, 97 percent of all chain pharmacies are connected to the e-prescribing system.
What are states doing? About 11 states have legislation pending regarding e-prescribing, according to Alliance.They include: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and South Dakota. Most of it deals with regulating the third party messages sent by pharmacy benefit managers to physicians at the point of prescription.
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Which states are leading? Delaware, Minnesota and Ohio are the top three states for e-prescriptions, according to Surescripts. In Delaware, the number of physicians routing prescriptions electronically jumped from 39 percent in 2010 to 82 percent in 2012. the state’s relatively small size has made connecting hospitals and pharmacies easier.
How can pharma benefit? Pharmaceutical companies are evaluating where they can benefit from e-prescribing, according to a summary of Alliance’s report. It gives the industry a few ideas about how drug developers can benefit. Although 80 percent of physicians know what drug they are prescribing before entering an e-prescribing system, the report noted that in 16 percent of e-prescriptions, the decision changes when physicians obtain information from the e-prescribing system they use.
