Enhanced interoperability allowed for greater automation, improved workflows, and increased drug price transparency in 2019.
Interoperability, patient data exchange, and ePrescribing has improved across the healthcare industry, according to a Surescripts 2019 National Progress Report.
In 2019, healthcare professionals saw the benefits of greater access to patient data information, the report said. This access allowed for a higher ePrescribing rate with enhanced automation, improved workflows, and increased drug price transparency.
“With the COVID-19 pandemic impacting patients and providers across the globe, a trusted nationwide health information network has never been more critical,” said Tom Skelton, chief executive officer of Surescripts.
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The total number of ePrescriptions increased from 2017 to 2019. This number climbed from 1.49 billion in 2017, to 1.64 billion in 2018, to 1.79 billion in 2019. That brings the total rate of ePrescribing up from 66 percent of all prescriptions in 2017 to 80 percent of all prescriptions in 2019.
The number dramatically increased in 2019, from 32 percent in 2018 to 49 percent in 2019.
Clinicians used ePrescribing for both non-controlled and controlled substances at a higher rate in 2019 than the prior two years.
ePrescriptions for non-controlled substances are up from 76 percent in 2017 to 86 percent in 2019.
In 2019, more healthcare professionals saw the safety and efficiency benefit of electronic prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS).
Compared to 2018, 51 percent more prescribers were able to implement and utilize EPCS.
According to the report, the percentage of prescribers who utilized ePrescribing also increased from 69 percent in 2017, to 73 percent in 2018, and then to 79 percent in 2019.
The number of total ePrescriptions filled for controlled substances reached 134.2 million, representing 38% of controlled substance prescriptions. This number is up 12 percent from 2018 and 49 percent of prescribers were able to access the technology.
Although the percentage increase does not look significant, the percentage of ePrescribing pharmacies increased from 98.1 percent in 2017, to 98.5 percent in 2018, and then to 98.7 percent in 2019.
In response to the country’s opioid crisis, paper opioid prescribing rates have declined recently.
In 2019, 13 states enacted e-prescribing requirements, meaning more than half of all states now require ePrescribing for opioids, all controlled substances, or all prescriptions.
In 2019, more opioid prescriptions were written electronically, which aimed to help protect patients against prescription fraud and abuse.
Since 2017, the number of ePrescriptions written for opioids increased 36 percent, from 33.2 million to 67.7 million.
As the healthcare industry continues into the digital era, more providers are seeking electronic prior authorization methods to implement into their current EHR systems.
Electronic prior authorizations increased by 132 percent in 2019 and there was a 58 percent increase in provider adoption of the tool into the EHR. Eighty-two percent of US prescribers are served by EHRs contracted for the service.
With drug pricing a hot topic across the nation, the federal government also issued a rule requiring that Medicare Part D plans adopt real-time prescription benefit tools by 2021.
According to the report, patients and prescribers are demanding prescription price transparency.
Forty percent of providers said prescribing would be more efficient with more information at their fingertips, particularly cost and coverage data.
In response to that demand, there has been a 233 percent increase in prescribers using real-time prescription benefits, from 2,600 in 2017 to 251,100 in 2019. Along with that, there was a 366 percent increase in real-time prescription benefit checks at the point of care, up from 3.1 million in 2017 to 136.1 million in 2019.
With patients more aware of what’s going on in the health industry, 61 percent of patients said they’d be willing to spend extra time, effort, or money in order to have informed prescription cost conversations with their provider.
An increase of ePrescribing will allow for improved workflow, increased patient safety, and more drug price transparency in the future.
Source: EHR Intelligence