AHRQ: Docs using e-prescribing can improve drug costs for patients

ROCKVILLE, MD – A new study finds that physicians who use an e-prescribing system with formulary decision support can boost drug cost savings.

The report was funded by the Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

According to the study, physicians can save $845,000 per 100,000 patients per year and possibly more system-wide by using a system that allows them to select lower cost or generic medications.

The study's authors believe this will have important financial implications as e-prescribing systems become more widely available and easier to use.

Complete use of an e-prescribing system with formulary decision support could reduce prescription drug spending by up to $3.9 million per 100,000 patients per year, the authors found.

Many insurers use lists of approved prescription drugs known as formularies. Under these arrangements patients are often charged the lowest co-payment for generic medications (tier 1), a higher sum for preferred brand-name drugs (tier 2) or the highest amount for non preferred brand-name drugs (tier 3).

A challenge to physicians' use of the tiered system is the lack of current data on insurers' prescription drug formularies at the time of prescribing because the information changes so frequently.