Study: E-Scripts Improve Medication Adherence

A study of de-identified pharmacy data finds patient-first-fill medication adherence--the number of times a patient actually fills a new prescription--increases by 10% when the prescription is electronic.

E-prescribing network vendor SureScripts conducted the study with pharmacies and pharmacy benefit management firms. A 2010 study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found that up to 28% of paper prescriptions are not brought to the pharmacy. Other times, patients are unprepared for the amount of their co-pay when they fill the prescription and abandon the prescription at the pharmacy, meaning they elect not to buy it, according to a 2010 study in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

That study showed patients with a co-pay of $40 to $50 were 3.4 times more likely to abandon the prescription; 4.68 times more likely if the co-pay was more than $50.

Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/7t9qf7f

Source: Health Data Management