E-prescriptions hit 4 million mark at Walgreens in October

DEERFIELD, Ill. Walgreens pharmacies, which have used electronic prescribing since 1992, filled a record 4 million prescriptions electronically in October, about 22% of all the drug store chain’s eligible prescriptions, which is a 185% increase compared with October of last year.

Walgreens estimated it will fill more than 45 million electronic prescriptions in 2009, compared with 15 million filled in 2008. The company expected growth to continue with help from financial incentives in the federal stimulus package, which encourage hospitals, doctors and others to adopt electronic health records, a core component of which is e-prescribing.

”With the federal stimulus package providing $19 billion in incentives to adopt electronic health records, doctors will gain easier access to software that makes electronic prescribing possible,” said Don Huonker, Walgreens SVP healthcare innovation.

“Continued growth in e-prescribing will help meet the goals of healthcare reform,” Huonker said. “In addition to lowering costs for doctors and pharmacies, electronic prescribing makes it more likely that patients will get their prescriptions filled, benefit from their drug therapy and avoid more expensive medical procedures. E-prescribing also reduces the medication errors and adverse drug events that cost the healthcare system billions of dollars per year. And by eliminating the need to call a doctor’s office to verify a prescription, e-prescribing provides pharmacists more time to focus on drug interactions, the right dosing and patient consultation.”