By Gina Shaw

Over two-thirds of pharmacists and prescribers say access to clinical information, benefit eligibility information and electronic prior authorization (PA) would be very useful, according to a new survey by Surescripts. Furthermore, pharmacist respondents believed the two most useful capabilities are secure messaging with prescribers and the ability to handle prescription changes and cancellations electronically. 

The Surescripts survey focused on how pharmacists and prescribers view their roles on primary care teams, as well as how healthcare must evolve after the COVID-19 pandemic to facilitate a team-based approach to care and more efficiently meet patients’ needs. When asked how useful various tools would be to their interactions with patients, pharmacists ranked three capabilities at the top of the list: the ability to process prescription changes and cancellations electronically (83% would find “very useful”); direct, secure messages between pharmacists and prescribers (also 83%); and electronic PA (81%).

Electronic PA is another major need for pharmacists, said Larry King, PharmD, Surescripts’ director of product safety and performance, noting that approximately 2.34 billion prescriptions were processed through Surescripts’ electronic network in 2022. He anticipates a similar, if not higher, volume over the course of 2023. The number of prescribers using e-prescribing grew by 7.9%, reaching 1.23 million, from 2021 to 2022. 

“Prior authorizations that require faxes or phone calls are out in the ether, often hard to track and get resolution on, taking up a lot of pharmacists’ time and taking them away from the bench,” Dr. King said. “Electronic prior authorization can not only shorten the time to resolution of these prior authorizations, but they also give the pharmacist the ability to supply the provider with any of the data they need to successfully get approval from the insurer, such as diagnosis codes and prior medications that the patient has failed or succeeded on. 

“The big picture is about shortening that approval process, getting a higher rate of approval, and if approval is not going to happen, efficiently ensuring that there are responsible alternatives to communicate to the provider,” he concluded.

Dr. King added that Surescripts Clinical Direct Messaging was “highly utilized” by pharmacists during the pandemic as they provided vaccines, allowing them to notify the healthcare provider and other parties that needed information to meet health department protocols. “This experience underscored how beneficial this technology can be for pharmacists in a variety of situations,” he said.

Dr. King reported no relevant financial disclosures beyond his stated employment.