{"id":3850,"date":"2012-11-27T11:57:55","date_gmt":"2012-11-27T16:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.healthit.gov\/buzz-blog\/?p=3850"},"modified":"2026-01-06T05:33:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T05:33:14","slug":"report-finds-eprescribing-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthit.gov\/blog\/insights-updates\/report-finds-eprescribing-rise\/","title":{"rendered":"New Report Finds E-Prescribing Is on the Rise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One giant leap forward in the transformation of health care is the use of electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) to reduce mistakes, control costs, and better coordinate care. E-prescribing has been found to improve patient care and safety by preventing medication errors that are associated with paper prescriptions. Recognizing the importance of e-prescribing in improving patient care, part of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program provides incentive payments for certain eligible health care providers who e-prescribe as part of meeting the meaningful use requirements that rely on certified EHR technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About E-Prescribing<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

E-prescribing reduces many types of prescribing errors and eliminates medication errors due to illegibility.  A recent study showed that e-prescribing via EHR reduced prescribing errors 1.5 fold in adult ambulatory care patients (Abramson 2011). E-prescribing is also helpful in the inpatient setting. This is because e-prescribing saves time and money. In terms of what this means in dollars and cents, a Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital researcher found<\/a> that doctors who used e-prescribing systems embedded with decision support tools saved $0.70 per patient per month or $845,000 annually per 100,000 insured patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ONC Programs Promote E-Prescribing<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At ONC, the State Health Information Exchange Cooperative Agreement Program (State HIE Program) has focused on promoting pharmacy participation in e-prescribing<\/a> among physicians and pharmacists. ONC\u2019s 62 Regional Extension Centers  are also helping primary care providers<\/a> from individual and small practice settings across the United States adopt and use EHRs to meet the meaningful use objectives and help to provide safer care to their patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due in part to these efforts and the increasing number of providers that are meeting the meaningful use objectives, there has been a marked increase in e-prescribing at the national and state level between December 2008 and June 2012. ONC has posted a new data brief [PDF – 732 KB]<\/a> that looks at this increase and highlights changes in rates of physicians e-prescribing, pharmacy capability to accept e-prescriptions, and volume of new and renewal prescriptions sent electronically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data brief reports that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n