Effects of an e-Prescribing interface redesign on rates of generic drug prescribing: exploiting default options. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • OBJECTIVE: Increasing the use of generic medications could help control medical costs. However, educational interventions have limited impact on prescriber behavior, and e-prescribing alerts are associated with high override rates and alert fatigue. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of a less intrusive intervention, a redesign of an e-prescribing interface that provides default options intended to "nudge" prescribers towards prescribing generic drugs. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study in an academic ambulatory multispecialty practice assessed the effects of customizing an e-prescribing interface to substitute generic equivalents for brand-name medications during order entry and allow a one-click override to order the brand-name medication. RESULTS: Among drugs with generic equivalents, the proportion of generic drugs prescribed more than doubled after the interface redesign, rising abruptly from 39.7% to 95.9% (a 56.2% increase; 95% confidence interval, 56.0-56.4%; P < .001). Before the redesign, generic drug prescribing rates varied by therapeutic class, with rates as low as 8.6% for genitourinary products and 15.7% for neuromuscular drugs. After the redesign, generic drug prescribing rates for all but four therapeutic classes were above 90%: endocrine drugs, neuromuscular drugs, nutritional products, and miscellaneous products. DISCUSSION: Changing the default option in an e-prescribing interface in an ambulatory care setting was followed by large and sustained increases in the proportion of generic drugs prescribed at the practice. CONCLUSIONS: Default options in health information technology exert a powerful effect on user behavior, an effect that can be leveraged to optimize decision making.

publication date

  • February 17, 2016

Research

keywords

  • Drug Substitution
  • Drugs, Generic
  • Electronic Prescribing
  • Medical Order Entry Systems
  • Practice Patterns, Physicians'
  • User-Computer Interface

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 84995768513

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1093/jamia/ocv192

PubMed ID

  • 26911828

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 23

issue

  • 5