E-prescribing increases filled prescriptions

Pharmacists reported that the number of filled prescriptions rose 11 percent during the three months after a group of 100 clinicians in five states began e-prescribing. The study, conducted by SureScripts, Walgreens, and IMS Health, involved 93 different pharmacy organizations.

Examining prescriptions sent to Walgreens, the researchers observed that patients picked up their prescriptions just as often when they were sent electronically as when they were handwritten, printed, faxed in, or called in. It's not clear why more prescriptions were received by pharmacies and picked up by patients when doctors transmitted them electronically. The researchers theorized that this is related to the phenomenon of prescription "leakage"-prescriptions that are written but never brought into pharmacies.