Anatomy of the e-prescribing market
The e-prescribing industry is estimated to grow 26 percent from 2012 to 2017 due to healthcare providers’ pressing need to bring down healthcare costs, reduce medical errors and adverse events, and improve quality of care, according to a recent MarketsandMarkets report. The global e-prescription system was estimated at $170 million in 2011, and growth is expected to continue, especially in the United States.
E-prescribing “empowers more informed decision making by making patient formulary, eligibility and medication history information available at the point that prescribing decisions are made,” according to the January 2013 report, which analyzed the market by product, deployment modes, usage modes, components, end-user and geography.
Of the software, hardware and services components of e-prescribing systems, the services industry is experiencing the steepest growth as providers rush to train and implement their systems. Much of this work entails the hiring of IT consultants, the report found. MarketsandMarkets researchers also noted that the market is experiencing increasing demand for integrated e-prescription systems.
E-prescribing industry challenges cited in the report include:
- high cost of the e-prescribing systems
- resistance to adoption of technology by some physicians
- maintaining patient privacy and security in systems
- availability of trained IT professionals to implement systems
For more information on the report, go here.