Electronic prescribing of controlled substances: Are office-based physicians using it?
A new report from ONC answers this question
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology looked at data from the 2017 National Electronic Health Records Survey, a nationally representative survey of office-based physicians, to understand rates of electronically prescribing controlled substances.Here are the key findings.
In 2017, 32 percent of office-based physicians that prescribed controlled substances did so electronically.
Approximately one-third of physicians with computerized systems for prescribing prescriptions, electronically prescribe controlled substances.
Physician practices that were larger or owned by hospitals had the highest rates of electronically prescribing controlled substances. Physicians in practices with four or more physicians were significantly more likely to electronically prescribe controlled substances compared to physicians in smaller practices.
Rates of the electronic prescribing of controlled substances were significantly higher among physicians in practices owned by hospitals (44 percent) or insurance companies/ health plans/ Health Maintenance Organizations (41 percent) compared with physician-owned practices (25 percent).
There was no significant difference in rates of electronic prescribing of controlled substances between physicians in rural and urban areas.
Physicians participating in CMS Innovation Models had significantly higher rates of electronic prescribing of controlled substances (EPCS) compared to physicians that did not participate in these programs. Participants of the Patient Centered Medical Home Program had the highest rates of EPCS: 42 percent of physicians participating in this program electronically prescribed controlled substances.