Big Jump in E-Prescribing in 2011

Physician use of electronic prescribing technology skyrocketed in 2011, according the annual National Progress Report from e-prescribing network operator Surescripts.

The vendor says 570 million electronic prescriptions were routed in 2011, up 74 percent from 326 million in 2010. Fifty-eight percent of office-based physicians were using e-prescribing to some degree last year, according to the report. Other findings:

* Specialty physicians with the highest e-prescribing rates are internists (81 percent), endocrinologists (78 percent), cardiologists (76 percent) and family practitioners (75 percent);

* Solo practitioners had the highest rate of e-prescribing adoption in 2011, rising from 31 percent in 2010 to 46 percent last year;

* Physicians adopting e-prescribing have a consistent 10 percent increase in patient first-fill medication adherence; and

* The average e-prescriber in the first quarter of 2008 did 49 such transactions per month, which rose to 213 per month in the fourth quarter of 2011.

The report is available at surescripts.com/report.