New Report Tracks E-Prescribing Growth Since 2008

In December 2008, Massachusetts was the only state where physicians were using electronic prescribing technology to any appreciable degree. Nationwide, only 7 percent of doctors were doing any e-prescribing using an electronic health records system.

But by June 2012, the percent of physicians e-prescribing ranged from 32 percent in Alaska to 77 percent in Massachusetts, according to a new report from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. Nineteen states since 2008 have seen the percentage of e-prescribing physicians increase by at least 50 percent. The national e-prescribing rate stood at 48 percent in June 2012, according to the report, which relies heavily on data from the SureScripts national e-prescribing network.

Ninety-four percent of the nation’s community pharmacies were able to process e-prescriptions in June, up from 76 percent in late 2008, with all states having a rate of at least 88 percent. Nationally, about 45 percent of all new and renewal prescriptions were electronically transmitted in June 2012, with physicians in 16 states sending more than half and all states sending at least 20 percent. However, the four states with the highest overall number of prescriptions--California (34 percent), Texas (41 percent), New York (41 percent) and Florida (37 percent)--are all below the national average.

The full report is available here.