Cost is key barrier to eRx adoption

Electronic prescribing plays an important role in improving the safety and quality of the prescribing process, however barriers to implementation remain.

A systematic review of 47 sources found that while e-prescribing reduces prescribing errors, increases efficiency and helps save on healthcare costs, implementing the technology is challenging due to high costs, lack of provider support, patient privacy concerns, system errors and legal issues, according to the study published in Perspectives in Health Information Management.

In all, the researchers found that using e-prescribing systems can save U.S. health systems a total of $27 billion annually and prevent more than two million adverse drug events.

But these upsides are tempered by the high cost, which federal incentives are insufficient to cover.

“While e-prescribing offers many benefits, not all providers have been excited about implementing e-prescribing systems. A major barrier, reported by more than 80 percent of primary care physicians, has been lack of financial support,” concluded the authors.