Report: California group proposes ideas to up e-prescribing adoption
Although most of California’s community pharmacies are able to receive electronic prescriptions, only 25 percent of the state’s physicians are currently electronically prescribing medications and just 16 percent of the state’s total prescriptions are routed electronically, according to Cal eConnect.
A February report published by the state-designated entity for health information exchange discusses some of the benefits of and barriers to electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) with a focus on initiatives occurring within California.
According to the report, barriers to e-prescribing adoption among California physicians include:
The report noted that although adoption rates remain low among physicians, the 25 percent of 26,000 physicians with e-prescribing capabilities is a marked improvement over the 3 percent that possessed e-prescribing capabilities in 2007 and adoption rates have quickened since the meaningful use incentive programs began.
Compared to physicians, California’s pharmacies have more readily adopted e-prescribing than physicians with 81 percent of the state’s 5,241 pharmacies capable of e-prescribing in 2010, although that percentage is down from 86 in 2009. Additionally, adoption rates were higher among chain pharmacies and lower among independent pharmacies.
The report blamed limitations among all e-prescribing stakeholders for low adoption rates throughout the state and proposed several ideas for advancing the health IT tool.
“To track e-prescribing progress on an ongoing basis, Cal eConnect will employ data sources used in this report, and possibly supplement those data with additional survey data collected from prescribers and pharmacies,” the report read. “Data will be integrated in an e-prescribing dataset that will monitor the amount of e-prescribing by prescribers, pharmacies and health plans to understand who is or is not prescribing electronically.”
“Findings from this gap analysis will serve as the basis for Cal eConnect’s California e-prescribing strategic plan, which will outline targeted interventions and outreach and technical support to independent pharmacies, as well as provide a framework to measure, report and communicate the progress of e-prescribing statewide,” the report concluded.
A February report published by the state-designated entity for health information exchange discusses some of the benefits of and barriers to electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) with a focus on initiatives occurring within California.
According to the report, barriers to e-prescribing adoption among California physicians include:
- The lack of an electronic format for displaying pharmacy history, eligibility and formulary information from payors;
- Connectivity issues between pharmacies and providers;
- The costs of purchasing and using e-prescribing systems and software; and
- The need to reorganize workflow to accommodate e-prescribing.
The report noted that although adoption rates remain low among physicians, the 25 percent of 26,000 physicians with e-prescribing capabilities is a marked improvement over the 3 percent that possessed e-prescribing capabilities in 2007 and adoption rates have quickened since the meaningful use incentive programs began.
Compared to physicians, California’s pharmacies have more readily adopted e-prescribing than physicians with 81 percent of the state’s 5,241 pharmacies capable of e-prescribing in 2010, although that percentage is down from 86 in 2009. Additionally, adoption rates were higher among chain pharmacies and lower among independent pharmacies.
The report blamed limitations among all e-prescribing stakeholders for low adoption rates throughout the state and proposed several ideas for advancing the health IT tool.
“To track e-prescribing progress on an ongoing basis, Cal eConnect will employ data sources used in this report, and possibly supplement those data with additional survey data collected from prescribers and pharmacies,” the report read. “Data will be integrated in an e-prescribing dataset that will monitor the amount of e-prescribing by prescribers, pharmacies and health plans to understand who is or is not prescribing electronically.”
“Findings from this gap analysis will serve as the basis for Cal eConnect’s California e-prescribing strategic plan, which will outline targeted interventions and outreach and technical support to independent pharmacies, as well as provide a framework to measure, report and communicate the progress of e-prescribing statewide,” the report concluded.