E-prescribing up by 75% in 2011, Surescripts says

ARLINGTON, Va. — More than one-third of prescriptions were sent electronically in 2011, the country's largest e-prescribing network said.



Surescripts issued an executive summary of its annual e-prescribing progress report Thursday showing that 570 million prescriptions, or 36% of the total, were sent electronically, a 75% increase over 2010's 326 million. In addition, 317,000 office-based physicians, or 58%, were e-prescribing, compared with 1-in-10 three years ago.



Other figures indicated that e-prescribing has a significant effect on first-fill medication adherence. Out of every 100 prescriptions, 76.5% of those sent electronically are picked up, compared with 69.5% of those that aren't.



The network plans to release its full progress report later this month.

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