E-prescribing savings will offset the $19B feds will spend for health IT

Consulting firm predicts 75 percent adoption of e-prescribing by 2014

By Nancy Ferris

The stimulus law’s incentives for providers to adopt health information technology will double the rate of e-prescribing and result in a $22 billion reduction in drug and medical costs in the next decade, according to a study commissioned by the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association.

If the study’s authors at consulting firm Visante are correct, the e-prescribing savings alone will more than pay for the $19 billion in adoption incentives and other health IT promotion activities required under the stimulus law.

By 2014, more than three-quarters of prescribers will be using e-prescribing, the researchers said. That is double the number anticipated after passage of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008, which includes incentives to encourage Medicare providers to adopt e-prescribing. Today, fewer than 15 percent of prescribers use e-prescribing, according to Visante’s report. Electronic Prescription