Electronic Prescriptions Take Off

The prevalence of electronic prescriptions is increasing as more hospitals and medical practices adopt electronic health records, according to a new report by Surescripts, a national e-prescription network provider.

More than 34 percent of prescribers now actively manage prescriptions electronically, says Harry Totonis, president and CEO of Surescripts, in an introduction to "The National Progress Report on E-Prescribing and Interoperable Healthcare for 2010." One of every four prescriptions is transmitted electronically, he says, and "e-prescribing is now well on its way to becoming mainstream practice."

This is the company's fourth annual review of e-prescribing adoption and practices. Among the findings:

• Electronically routed prescriptions grew by 72 percent, from 191 million in 2009 to 326 million in 2010. About 34 percent of office-based prescribers routed prescriptions electronically, growing from 156,000 at the end of 2009 to 234,000 at the end of 2010.
• About 79 percent of prescribers used e-prescribing tools in electronic health records rather than stand-alone prescribing applications in 2010, compared with 70 percent the previous year and 63 percent in 2008.
• More than 90 percent of community pharmacies were connected to an e-prescribing routing network at the end of 2010, as were six of the country's largest mail-order pharmacies.
• The number of patient medication histories delivered electronically to prescribers grew by 184 percent between 2009 and 2010, after nearly quadrupling between 2008 and 2009.
• Cardiologists and family practitioners lead the way in e-prescribing, with 49 percent of cardiologists and 47 percent of family-practice physicians prescribing electronically. Internal medicine specialists follow closely at 45 percent. At the bottom of the eight highlighted specialties are orthopedic surgeons, 24 percent of whom prescribe electronically.

E-prescribing has grown more slowly than was expected when systems were launched 15 years ago, says Dr. Steve B. Miller, senior vice president and chief medical officer of Express Scripts and a member of the Surescripts board of directors. The "initial uptake was much slower than originally anticipated," he says. "However, the growth in the last two years has been astonishing. We have reached the proverbial tipping point."