Surescripts, which bills itself as the country’s largest health information network, routed more than a billion electronic prescriptions in 2013.

The number represents a majority – 58 percent – of all eligible prescriptions in the United States, sent by 73 percent of all office-based physicians. 

Surescripts’ 2013 National Progress Report and Safe-Rx Rankings also reveals broader signs of growth in electronic health information exchange.

Delaware leads
In 2013, Delaware again leads Surescripts’ Safe-Rx Rankings, with 81 percent of physicians routing a total of 3.8 million electronic prescriptions. 

All states routed at least 45 percent of eligible prescriptions electronically last year, and electronic prescribing has increased to where the last place state in 2013 would have been the first place state in 2009, by a margin of 13 percentage points. 

[See also: Surescripts adds scads of EHR vendors.]

"For more than a decade, Surescripts has operated a network and built the relationships to get the right information to the right place at the right time," said Paul Uhrig, acting CEO of Surescripts, in a news release. "We’re incredibly proud to report measurable progress connecting and coordinating care providers through our network, because we believe that people and organizations working together will make healthcare more efficient, more effective and easier to navigate."
 
Other highlights of the report include:

• The total volume of prescriptions routed electronically increased 44 percent, up from 788 million in 2012 and 570 million in 2011.
• Nearly 700 million electronic medication history records (covering two-thirds of the U.S. population) were delivered in 2013, representing a 19 percent increase over 2012.The adoption of electronic prescribing by independent pharmacies increased 11 percent between 2011 and 2013, while adoption among chain pharmacies remained constant at 98 percent.
• As of 2013, 40 percent of pharmacies have achieved Surescripts certification to enable the electronic prescribing of controlled substances.
• The Surescripts network connects to 566,000 prescribers, more than 400 hospitals and health systems, more than 40 of the nation’s leading pharmacy benefit managers, more than 600 EHR applications, 43 state immunization registries, and 21 health information exchanges and health information service providers.

[See also: Surescripts in connectivity mode.]

The Safe-Rx Rankings are a nationwide measure of each state’s progress in advancing healthcare safety, efficiency and quality through the adoption and use of electronic prescribing.  The rankings recognize the full utilization of electronic prescribing based on volume of prescription benefit, medication history and routing transactions.

Top 10 states
1. Delaware
2. Minnesota
3. Vermont
4. Wisconsin
5. Massachusetts
6. North Dakota
7. Connecticut
8. North Carolina
9. New Hamphire
10. South Dakota

Access the National Progress Report with a full listing state by stage here.