E-prescribing rates soar among physicians

Seventy percent of physicians now use electronic prescribing through their electronic health record, and in 2013, the number of prescriptions sent electronically topped 1 billion, according to the latest report from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC).

The report, which analyzed data from Surescripts, looked at the volume of
e-prescriptions from December 2008 to April 2014, after the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA), an e-prescribing incentive program, was passed. The report found a ten-fold increase in providers’
e-prescribing rates during that timeframe.

Minnesota had the largest increase, with only 4% of its physicians e-prescribing in 2008 and 100% of physicians doing so in 2014. As of April, Indiana had a 95% e-prescribing rate, followed by Massachusetts at 94% and South Dakota at 90%.

The report credits the jump in e-prescribing to the MIPPA. Before it’s implementation, the rate among physicians was at 7% in December 2008. The number of pharmacies that accepted e-prescriptions also increased during that period, from 76% in 2008 to 96% in 2014.

The global e-prescribing market is growing at a rapid pace. It’s projected to balloon from $250.2 million to $887.8 million by 2019, according to a report released in June by Transparency Market Research.