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Use of E-Prescribing Grows Dramatically
The number of electronic prescriptions increased 181% from 2008 to 2009, according to the 2009 National Progress Report on E-Prescribing, published by Surescripts, operator of the largest e-prescription network that connects prescribers’ e-prescribing software to pharmacies. Over 190 million e-prescriptions were routed in 2009, compared with 68 million in 2008, and 29 million in 2007. Correlating with those increases, 156,000 prescribers were using e-prescriptions by the end of 2009 compared with 74,000 at the end of 2008, a 109% increase. The report also indicates that 85% of community pharmacies in the US are connected and able to receive e-prescriptions from prescribers. The use of e-prescribing will likely continue to grow, influenced in part by new government regulations such as the DEA Interim Final Rule for Electronic Prescribing of Controlled Substances. In September 2009, NABP convened the Task Force on Electronic Prescribing Software Standards and Data Storage that was charged with evaluating the current regulatory and operational status of the electronic transmission of prescriptions and prescription data; developing standards for e-prescribing software and systems; and reviewing the current requirements for the storage of hard copy prescriptions and e-prescriptions to determine whether alternative storage methods can be utilized. The task force report (PDF) is available on the NABP Web site.
