Nationwide E-prescribing of Controlled Substances Shows Signs of Rapid Acceleration | DrFirst

Rockville, MD

DrFirst announced today that e-prescribing of controlled substances demonstrated significant growth during 2012. A key factor in this uptake is the increase in pharmacies nationwide that are able to accept e-prescriptions for controlled substances. From February to December 2012, the number of pharmacies accepting e-prescriptions for controlled substances grew from just 22 to 11,778, largely driven by the adoption of controlled substance e-prescribing by major drugstore chains including CVS, Walgreens and Rite-Aid. Today, more than 13,000 pharmacies accept e-prescriptions for controlled substances, accounting for nearly 18% of all U.S. pharmacies.

Another important factor in the growth of controlled substance e-prescribing has been increasing adoption by HIT vendors. DrFirst reported today a 428% increase in the last six months of 2012 for the number of controlled substance prescriptions issued via the company’s EPCS Gold software, which is in use by HIT vendors nationwide as well as being fully integrated into the company’s market-leading, stand-alone e-prescribing software platform, Rcopia®. Many EMR, EHR and HIS system vendors have integrated DrFirst’s EPCS Gold℠ 2.0 software to attain controlled substance e-prescribing within their workflows while reducing development costs, shortening timelines for audits and certification, and for ID proofing and authentication of providers.

James F. Chen, chairman and CEO of DrFirst said, “The pattern of adoption with electronic prescribing of controlled substances mirrors the early days of legend drug e-prescribing. We’ve now hit the fast-track stage where adoption is occurring rapidly and e-prescribing of controlled substances is becoming widely used. Our first quarter figures indicate that this growth curve will continue in 2013.”

G. Cameron Deemer, president of DrFirst said, “Now that electronic prescribing of controlled substances is legal nationwide and in active use across 40 U.S. states, an increasing number of physicians are benefiting from the workflow efficiency, drug diversion protection, and patient safety benefits inherent to our EPCS Gold software.”

This month, DrFirst published a whitepaper titled “The Evolving Landscape for Electronic Prescribing of Controlled Substances – An Industry Briefing.” The whitepaper includes additional information on the benefits, opportunities, challenges and identity proofing processes related to controlled substance e-prescribing.

About DrFirst, Inc.
DrFirst pioneers software solutions and services designed to optimize healthcare provider access to patient information, improve the doctor’s clinical view of the patient at the time of care, and enable more effective, efficient administration and collaboration across a patient’s circle of caregivers. Our growth is driven by a commitment to innovation and reliability across a wide array of service areas, including Medication History and e-Prescribing, Secure Messaging and Clinical Data Sharing, and Patient Behavioral Education and Medication Adherence. We are a Surescripts Gold Certified provider, and have the #1-ranked Standalone e-Prescribing Software as rated by Black Book Rankings. We are proud of our track record of service to 40,000 providers and over 270 EMR/EHR/HIS vendors nationwide.