SureScripts predicts more than 100 million e-prescriptions in 2008
FORT WAYNE, Ind. Last year, 35 million prescriptions were routed electronically between health care providers and pharmacies in the U.S. That number was more than the three previous years combined, according to SureScripts, which operates the Pharmacy Health Information Exchange. It predicts even larger numbers for 2008, estimating close to 100 million, according to published reports.
Current regulations, typical resistance to change and cost, e-prescribing advocates say, are the main deterrents to progress.
About half of those doctors who e-prescribe use stand-alone e-prescribing software, and half use electronic medical record systems equipped to handle e-prescribing. Many e-prescribing systems allow doctors to remotely access a patient’s updated medication list and history from their pharmacy, rather than relying on information in medical records at the doctor’s office.
The federal Certification Commissioner for Healthcare Information Technology requires that newly certified electronic health records are able to e-prescribe. By the end of 2008, SureScripts expects that about 60 percent of e-prescribers will use electronic medical record systems.
Kevin Nicholson, vice president of pharmacy regulatory affairs for National Association of Chain Drug Stores—which, along with National Community Pharmacists Association, founded SureScripts in 2001—pointed out the difficulty in forging e-prescriptions. “No computer network is 100 percent hacker-proof,” but since SureScripts’ inception in 2001, the Pharmacy Health Information Exchange it operates hasn’t suffered a single security breach, he said.
Recent studies have also shown that e-prescribing may also increase the likelihood patients will get their prescriptions filled. Research conducted by SureScripts and Walgreens showed an 11 percent increase in new prescriptions filled when tracking the number of prescriptions received by pharmacies before and after physicians began using e-prescribing. The research used data on prescribing physicians from IMS Health, which provides market intelligence to the pharmaceutical and health care industries.
Currently, 97 percent of chain pharmacies e-prescribe, compared with about 27 percent of independently owned pharmacies