title: Study of electronic prescribing rates and barriers identified among providers using electronic health records in New York City.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Increased electronic prescribing (eRx) rates have the potential to prevent errors, increase patient safety, and curtail fraud. US Federal meaningful use guidelines require at least a 40% electronic prescribing rate.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We evaluated eRx rates among  primary care providers in New York City in order to determine trends as well as identify any obstacles to increased eRx rates required by meaningful use guidelines.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data we analysed included automatic electronic data transmissions from providers enrolled in the Primary  Care Information Project (PCIP) from 1 January 2009 to 1 July 2010 and follow-up telephone calls to a subset of these providers to identify potential barriers to increased eRx usage.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over the course of the study, these providers increased the eRx rate from 12.9 to 27.5%,  with an average rate of 24.1%. Conversations with providers identified their perceived barriers to increased eRx use as primarily patient preference for paper prescriptions and a belief that many pharmacies do not accept eRx.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The data gathered from our providers indicate  that there is an increasing trend in the eRx rate to 27.5% by July 2010, but still short of the 40% meaningful use level. However, obstacles to increased rates remain primarily providers' belief that many patients prefer paper prescriptions and many pharmacies are not yet prepared to accept  electronic prescriptions.
authors.affiliation: Primary Care Information Project, The New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, New York 11101, USA. samirfa1@health.nyc.gov
authors.forename: Sam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Amirfar
authors.forename: Sheila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Anane
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Buck
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Di Lonardo
authors.forename: Phoenix
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Maa
authors.forename: Colleen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McCullough
authors.forename: Marlena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Plagianos
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pulgarin
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Taverna
authors.forename: Jesse
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Singer
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D057286:Electronic Health Records; D055695:Electronic Prescribing; D006801:Humans; D009519:New York City; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011320:Primary Health Care