Surescripts Report: Federal Incentives to Support Health IT Helped Grow Nation's Use of E-Prescriptions by 72 Percent in 2010
Thursday, May 12, 2011
According to Latest National Progress Report on
E-Prescribing and Interoperable Healthcare, One in Four
Prescriptions Is Now an E-Prescription and E-Prescribing Is Now
Used by 36 Percent of Office-Based Physicians in
U.S.
ARLINGTON, Va. - May 12, 2011 - Surescripts today
announced the release of "The National Progress Report on
E-Prescribing and Interoperable Healthcare" for 2010. The report is
the fourth in an annual series that tracks the status of
e-prescribing adoption and use in the United States. This year's
report measures the growth of e-prescribing from 2008 - before the
advent of federal incentives - through 2010 and includes new data
that provides further detail on physician adoption of e-prescribing
and electronic health records.
The number of prescribers routing prescriptions electronically
grew from 74,000 at the end of 2008 to 234,000 by the end of 2010 -
representing 34 percent of all office-based prescribers and 36
percent of office-based physicians. E-prescribing adoption rates
are highest among cardiologists (49 percent) and family
practitioners (47 percent). In terms of practice size, adoption
rates are highest among practices with five to 10 physicians (44
percent) and two to five physicians (42 percent).
Other highlights from the report include:
- The number of electronic prescriptions in 2010 grew to 326 million up from 190 million e-prescriptions in 2009. By the end of 2010, approximately 25 percent of eligible prescriptions were prescribed electronically.
- In 2010, approximately twice as many patient visits to doctors' offices included the opportunity for physicians to access a patient's prescription benefit information and medication history in order to prescribe safer and lower cost prescriptions.
- At the end of 2010, approximately 91 percent of community pharmacies and six of the largest mail-order pharmacies in the United States were able to receive prescriptions electronically.
"Electronic prescribing is now well on its way to becoming
mainstream practice," said Harry Totonis, president and CEO of
Surescripts. "The vision that pharmacies and PBMs had over 10 years
ago - replacing phone-, fax- and paper-based prescribing with
e-prescribing -- is being realized today through improved
medication management, increased patient convenience and reduced
costs for all.
"What's more, the factors behind the growth in e-prescribing are
serving as a model for broader adoption and use of health IT," said
Totonis. "E-prescribing has grown based on the unprecedented
collaboration between the public and private sectors and the
realization of tangible benefits by all participants. We at
Surescripts are working to leverage this experience and our
commitment to neutrality, collaboration and transparency in order
to expand meaningful use, improve healthcare outcomes and lower
costs."
In addition to tracking numerous measures of health IT adoption
and use, the report details what is driving the growth of
e-prescribing and interoperable healthcare as well as
recommendations for how to continue that growth. For a downloadable
copy of "The National Progress Report on E-Prescribing and
Interoperable Healthcare," go to www.surescripts.com/report.
Profiles in Interoperable Healthcare
New to this year's report are a series of profiles highlighting
the efforts of the American Academy of Family Physicians, Butler
Health Systems and Surescripts' own board of directors. The
profiles illustrate how leaders throughout the healthcare community
are working to enable and improve the meaningful use of health
information.
The report also features a byline from Surescripts' chief quality
officer, David Yakimischak. Yakimischak details how Surescripts' is
setting the standard in health information exchange by aiming to
achieve 100 percent reliability of e-prescribing -- from the time a
prescription is first prepared by a prescriber to the time the
medication is dispensed and at all points in between.
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About Surescripts
The Surescripts network supports the most comprehensive ecosystem
of healthcare organizations nationwide. Pharmacies, payers,
pharmacy benefit managers, physicians, hospitals, health
information exchanges and health technology firms rely on
Surescripts to more easily and securely share health information.
Guided by the principles of neutrality, transparency, physician and
patient choice, open standards, collaboration and privacy,
Surescripts operates the nation's largest health information
network. By providing information for routine, recurring and
emergency care, Surescripts is committed to saving lives, improving
efficiency and reducing the cost of health care for all. For more
information, go to
www.surescripts.com and
follow us at twitter.com/surescripts.
Press Contact:
Rob Cronin
Surescripts
917-414-5289
rob.cronin@surescripts.com
