News Feature | May 26, 2015

Frequent ePrescribing Cuts ADEs Significantly

Katie Wike

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

ePrescribing Doctor

Adverse Drug Events (ADEs) were significantly reduced when E-Prescribing was used frequently, according to a new study.

The frequent use of e-prescribing has a significant effect on adverse drug events according to research conducted by a team including former National Coordinator for Health IT Farzad Mostashari.

“The evidence suggests that e-prescribing can affect the incidence of ADEs either by helping providers send accurate, error-free, and legible prescriptions to pharmacies or by providing decision support to prevent drug–drug or drug–disease interactions,” write researchers in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. “These studies, however, are predominantly hospital-based. The few prior studies done in the ambulatory setting have not studied the outcome of actual adverse events.”

Fierce EMR reports the team studied adverse drug events among doctors who use e-prescribing for less than 50 percent of their orders, as well as those who use it for more than 50 percent of prescriptions.

Reductions in adverse drug effects were seen in varying populations. For example, according to iHealth Beat, the risk of an adverse drug event was higher among black patients, compared with Hispanics. Also, younger, female or rural providers were less likely to see adverse drug events among their patients. Providers with sicker or lower-income patients had a higher likelihood of having such adverse events among their patients.

“In summary, e-prescribing to Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes is associated with reduced risk of hospital or ED visits for hypoglycemia or ADEs related to antidiabetic medications but many traditionally disadvantaged populations are less likely to receive prescriptions from a clinician who frequently e-prescribes,” concluded researchers. “As more clinicians shift toward e-prescribing in the ambulatory environment, further evaluation should explore whether there are disparities by patient race and income in both access to e-prescribing providers and risk of ADEs.”