title: Dispatch from the non-HITECH-incented Health IT world: electronic medication history adoption and utilization.
abstract: To document national trends of electronic medication history use in the ambulatory setting and describe the characteristics and predicting factors of providers who regularly use medication history transaction capabilities through their e-prescribing systems.
  
  
  
  The study used provider-initiated medication history data requests, electronically sent over an e-prescribing network from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Data from 138,000 prescribers were evaluated using multivariate analyses from 2007 to 2013.
  
  
  
  Medication history use showed significant growth, increasing from 8 to 850 million history requests during the study period. Prescribers on the network for <5 years had a lower likelihood of requests than those on the network for 5 or more years. Although descriptive analyses showed that prescribers in rural areas were alongside e-prescribing, and requesting medication histories more often than those in large and small cities, these findings were not significant in multivariate analyses. Providers in orthopedic surgery and internal medicine had a higher likelihood of more requests than family practice prescribers, with 12% and 7% higher likelihood, respectively.
  
  
  
  Early adopters of e-prescribing have remained medication history users and have continually increased their volume of requests for medication histories.
  
  
  
  Despite the fact that the use of medication histories through e-prescribing networks in the ambulatory care setting has not been encouraged through federal incentive programs, there has been substantial growth in the use of medication histories offered through e-prescribing networks.
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Health Management and Informatics, University of Central Florida, 4364 Scorpius Drive, Orlando, FL 32816, USA.
authors.forename: Meghan Hufstader
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Gabriel
authors.affiliation: Statistician, Surescripts 2800 Crystal Drive #1000, Arlington, VA 22202, USA jaime.smith@surescripts.com.
authors.forename: Jaime Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Vice President, Surescripts, 2800 Crystal Drive #1000, Arlington, VA 22202, USA.
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sow
authors.affiliation: Public Health Analyst, Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, 200 Independence Avenue SW, Washington DC 20201, USA.
authors.forename: Dustin
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Charles
authors.affiliation: Vice President, Surescripts LLC, 2800 Crystal Drive #1000, Arlington, VA 22202, USA.
authors.forename: Seth
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Joseph
authors.affiliation: Pharmacy Advisor, Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, 200 Independence Avenue SW, Washington DC 20201, USA.
authors.forename: Tricia Lee
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Wilkins
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055695:Electronic Prescribing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000639:trends*; D014481:United States
keywords: e-prescribing; electronic health records; health information technology; medication history