Even when physicians have access to e-prescribing, many do not routinely use the technology, particularly the more advanced features the federal government is promoting with financial incentives, according to a new national study released Thursday by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC).
Slightly more than two in five office-based physicians reported that information technology was available in their practice to write prescriptions in 2008, the year before implementation of federal incentives, according to the study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. And, among physicians with e-prescribing capabilities, about a quarter used the technology only occasionally or not at all.
The study also found that fewer than 60 percent of physicians with e-prescribing capability had access to three advanced features included as part of the Medicare and Medicaid incentive programs-identifying potential drug interactions, obtaining formulary information and transmitting prescriptions to pharmacies electronically-and less than a quarter routinely used all three features.
"Adoption of e-prescribing remains low, particularly among the half of all physicians who work in solo or two- to five-physician practices, " said study author Joy Grossman, an HSC senior researcher. "And, among physicians with e-prescribing capabilities, many do not use the technology routinely, and even fewer use advanced e-prescribing features routinely."
The HSC 2008 Health Tracking Physician Survey included responses from 4,182 office-based physicians.
