E-prescribing, or electronic prescribing, is the process of generating and transmitting prescription orders electronically. It allows medical practitioners to use digital prescription software to send a prescription to a pharmacy directly from the point of care. E-prescribing aims at minimizing the risks and errors associated with traditional prescription methods.
E-prescriptions are signed electronically and protected against unauthorized access using state-of-the-art security techniques. This blog post covers the working and advantages of e-prescription platforms. Also, it details the growth drivers and recent developments in the e-prescribing market.
How Does E-Prescribing Work?
When creating an e-prescription, doctors, physician assistants, and other medical practitioners use a tablet, laptop, or desktop PC to enter the prescription information into the e-prescribing software. After filling in all the required details, the prescription is submitted for direct transmission to a pharmacy. E-prescription eliminates the need for practitioners to provide a paper copy of the prescription to patients, as all of the information is transmitted to the pharmacy electronically.
Once the prescription information is submitted, the e-prescribing platform sends it to a centralized hub for verification. After confirming that the data is associated with the right patient, the hub will connect to the patient’s insurance to check coverage. The prescription will finally be sent to the pharmacy if everything goes well.
An e-prescribing software can either work with the practice’s EHR or act as an autonomous system. E-prescribing platforms are usually connected to a vast network of pharmacies, allowing medical practitioners to choose their patient’s pharmacy from the list. Also, they allow medical practitioners to check the patient’s records to ensure that the prescription is linked to the right patient.
What Are the Benefits Of E-Prescribing?
E-prescribing can provide significant benefits to clinicians, surgeons, and other specialists. Some of them include:
Convenience: With traditional paper prescriptions, patients usually have to wait a while before the prescription gets filled. E-prescriptions, on the other hand, offer convenience by sending the information to the pharmacy directly.
Reduced paper records: E-prescriptions are stored electronically on in-house or cloud servers. This eliminates the need for physical paper records and can help clinics save space and costs associated with paper records.
Quick reconciliation of medical history: E-prescription software developed by the e-prescribing market key players allows medical practitioners to check the patient’s drug history. This feature is quite helpful in reconciling medication lists of patients.
Better management of controlled substance prescriptions: E-prescription platforms can help providers track the number of controlled substance prescriptions and prevent their over-usage.
Market Analysis and Growth Drivers
The e-prescribing market was valued at USD 1,944.44 million in 2022 and is expected to grow to USD 16,069.01 million at a CAGR of 23.5 % during the forecast period.
Prescription errors, which account for over 70% of medication errors reported by clinicians, are a major concern for hospitals and medical institutions worldwide. They can negatively affect a patient’s health and are a common cause of medical malpractice claims against medical practitioners. Healthcare providers are increasingly adopting e-prescribing solutions to improve patient safety and reduce medication errors. The rising incidence of adverse drug events worldwide is expected to impact the market’s growth favorably.
The introduction of new regulations like the SUPPORT Act, Medicare, and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program by major governments worldwide has prompted healthcare providers to use e-prescribing technology. These new incentive schemes are expected to contribute to the e-prescribing market demand.
Recent Developments
In August 2021, India-based healthcare startup Meddo acquired the e-prescription platform Doxper in a cash and stock deal. Doxper is an AI-powered healthcare digitalization solution specializing in health record management systems.
In January 2022, leading e-prescribing platform Surescripts revealed that it witnessed record growth in 2021. Around 2.12 billion e-prescriptions were processed through Surescripts’ network that year.
Conclusion
The market for e-prescribing systems is driven by several factors, including cost optimization, increased demand for e-prescription systems, and the desire for better healthcare quality. Reducing prescription errors is one of the major factors anticipated to drive the e-prescribing market sales in coming years.