As many as three out of four doctors may be using e-prescribing technology within five years, according to a recently released report.
Roughly $19 billion of economic stimulus funding is set aside for the adoption of e-prescribing and other healthcare technologies. The increased access to funding is likely to vault physician participation in e-prescribing practices up to 75% by 2014—a dramatic increase over the current estimated 13%, according to the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association’s report, which was released Monday. Participation could rise as high as 90% by 2018, the report speculates. More nursing homes are using e-prescribing to save time and reduce errors.
Such increases in physician e-prescribing practices could save the government up to $22 billion over the next 10 years, according to the report. Additionally, more than 3.5 million medication errors and 585,000 hospitalizations could be prevented over the same period of time. For more information, visit http://www.pcmanet.org.
