E-prescribing helps patients remember to retrieve their medications

Whether a person plans to use a Canadian internet pharmacy or to go to their local brick-and-mortar drug store, many forget to submit their prescription. However, new evidence suggests that e-prescribing technology may help eliminate this problem.

A team of researchers from Surescripts, the nationwide e-prescribing network, recently released evidence suggesting that patients are significantly more likely to pick up their prescriptions if their doctor uses e-prescribing technology, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The results were based on a review of 40 million prescription requests sent between 2008 and 2010. The findings showed that 76.5 percent of patients whose doctors used e-prescribing picked up their medications. Less than 70 percent of patients given paper prescriptions retrieved their drugs.

Dr. Sal Volpe, a physician based out of Staten Island, New York, told the news source that many patients simply forget to bring their prescription to the pharmacy or submit it to a Canadian internet pharmacy. E-prescribing eliminates this risk, as the drug order is sent directly from a physician's office to the pharmacy.

A recent report from Surescripts indicated that 36 percent of office-based physicians use e-prescribing tools, with the number increase each year.