Most Adults over 50 Prefer ePrescribing vs. Paper

Electronic prescribing has quickly gone from the exception to the expectation, with adults over 50 years of age heavily preferring e-prescribing versus paper prescriptions.


Electronic prescribing has quickly gone from the exception to the expectation, with adults over 50 years of age heavily preferring e-prescribing versus paper prescriptions.

That is the key finding of a new study published in the American Health Information Management Association’s Winter 2015 issue of Perspectives in Health Information Management. In a telephone survey of 75 participants aged 50 and older living within one hour of Pittsburgh, Penn., a majority of participants expected e-prescriptions (84 percent) and preferred e-prescriptions to paper prescriptions (81 percent). The survey results also show that nearly six times as many study participants expected only e-prescriptions than expected only paper prescriptions.

In addition, of the 57 survey participants whose physicians sent their prescriptions electronically, 93 percent reported being very satisfied with their doctor and 84 percent reported being very satisfied with their pharmacist in dealing with e-prescribed medications. With 76 percent of the individuals who participated in the study currently using e-prescribing, the study concludes that e-prescribing has been firmly established as a prescribing method.

Nonetheless, most participants responding to the survey did not believe that e-prescribing has improved their adherence to medications, and most believe that they were equally likely to pick up an e-prescription as they were to pick up a paper prescription.

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