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Tufts Health Plan reports success in e-prescribing trial

The insurer, citing reduced hassle factor for physicians, improved patient safety and lower drug costs, says it may expand the use of electronic prescribing.

By Tyler Chin, amednews staff. Oct. 14, 2002.

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Initial results of its one-year test of handheld electronic prescribing showed the technology helped influence physician prescribing behavior, improve quality and reduce pharmaceutical costs, Tufts Health Plan said.

The Waltham, Mass.-based insurer found that electronic prescribing saved two hours a day per physician, which averages to about 10 minutes per patient, said Deborah Whitehead, assistant vice president for pharmacy services for Tufts.

A key reason the technology saved time for doctors is that it reduced by 76% the number of calls and faxes doctors got from pharmacies and pharmacists inquiring about drug formulary issues, she said.

The technology also saved time for participating physicians because it cut in half the time it took them to create a prescription.

"It eliminated the dialogue between doctor and patient that is required when the patient's prescription drug history isn't available," Whitehead said.

Prescribing patterns affected

The pilot's initial results also showed the technology saved money because it helped influence doctors to prescribe more generics and preferred drugs over nonpreferred brand drugs.

Tufts has a three-tier drug plan under which generics, preferred brand names and nonpreferred brand names fall in the first, second and third tiers respectively.

Electronic prescribing can save doctors 2 hours a day.

The higher the tier, the more expensive the drug is to members and employer clients of the HMO.

"We saw significant improvement in the writing for preferred products, whether it was for second-tier preferred brands or first-tier generic drugs ... because doctors had instant access to [drug] information while the patient was there in their office," Whitehead said.

In addition, the technology helped doctors improve patient safety in several ways: It made prescriptions more legible; it let them know of potential drug interactions at the point of care; and it let doctors know more quickly whether patients had been refilling their prescriptions on time and whether their therapy was being duplicated, she said.

Encouraged by the initial results of its test, Tufts is continuing the pilot and considering making the technology available to more physicians, a spokeswoman said.

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