Electronic Prescribing (E-prescribing) Market Statistics, 2026
The e-prescribing market size was valued at $885.6 million in 2018, and is projected to reach $4,152.7 million by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 21.4% from 2019 to 2026. E-prescribing is an application that sends patients or end users prescriptions electronically from their computer to chosen pharmacies. The primary goal of e-prescribing models in an EHR or HIT systems are efficient transmission and receipt of complete, accurate, and unambiguous prescription orders that help optimize pharmacy processing and fulfillment, thereby eliminating disruptions in workflow and delays in patient care.
Electronic Prescribing (E-prescribing) solutions are widely adopted among healthcare industry due to its benefits such as improved patient safety, fewer medication errors due to handwritten prescriptions, fewer medication errors due to misunderstood phoned-in prescriptions, and less risk of lost or misplaced written prescriptions. This in turn is expected to boost growth of the global e-prescribing market during the forecast period.
The hospital segment registered high revenue growth in 2018 among all the segments in the global electronic prescribing market and is expected to continue this trend over the coming years. This is attributed to rise in adoption of electronic prescribing and medication administration systems with benefits such as accurate communication among healthcare professional and reduced adverse drug events, medication errors, and healthcare costs.
By Component
Solutions is projected as one of the most lucrative segments.
North America has garnered high revenue share due to high adoption of e-prescription integrated systems and increase in adoption toward advanced healthcare technology products. This is a major factor to drive the growth of the e-prescribing market forecast. Moreover, as individuals in the region are inclining toward patient-centric solutions, the adoption of e-prescribing is helping physicians in the region to provide exquisite experience without the need to invest in time for visiting the hospital in non-emergence situations. Whereas, the ambulatory care institutes in the region have adopted e-prescribing solutions at a significant rate due to favorable government initiative toward public safety. Aforementioned are factors that support the e-prescribing market growth in the North America region.
By Deployment
Web and Cloud-based is projected as one of the most significant segments.
The report focuses on the growth prospects, restraints, and market analysis. The study provides Porter’s five forces analysis of the e-prescribing industry to understand the impact of various factors such as bargaining power of suppliers, competitive intensity of competitors, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, and bargaining power of buyers on the electronic prescribing market.
By Application
Hospitals is projected as one of the most significant segments.
Segment Review
The e-prescribing market segmentation is based on component, deployment, end user, and region. By component, it is categorized into solutions and services. On the basis of deployment, it is divided on-premise and cloud. Depending on end user, it is classified into hospitals, office-based physicians, and pharmaceuticals. By region, the market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.
By Region
Asia-Pacific would exhibit the highest CAGR of 24.3% during 2019-2026.
Key players operating in the global e-prescribing market analysis include Allscripts Healthcare, LLC, Athenahealth, Inc., Cerner Corporation, Change Healthcare, DrFirst.com, Inc., eClinicalWorks, Epic Systems Corporation, Medical Information Technology, Inc., Practice Fusion, Inc., and Surescripts.
Top Impacting Factors
The global e-prescribing market is influenced by several factors among which favorable government initiatives and incentive programs have gained high traction and has significantly impacted the growth of the market. Moreover, rise in focus on the reduction of fraud and abuse of controlled substances among healthcare institutions and need to curtail escalating healthcare costs are among some of the major factors to drive growth of the market in the coming years. However, concerns associated with electronic health record (EHR) data security and complex workflow issues associated with integration e-prescribing into existing systems are factors that restrain the market growth to a certain extent. Furthermore, Asia-Pacific countries are expected to garner high adoption rate of e-prescribing owing to on-going healthcare infrastructure development activities, which supports technological advancements in the existing systems,
Government initiatives and incentive programs
Initial government initiatives were primarily focused on the integration of technology into healthcare sector to ease patient waiting time and service delivery. Advent of technological transformation in healthcare shifted this focus towards standardizing the fragmented technological advance approaches among which development of standards for e-prescribing systems and implementation gained high momentum from the past decade. Aforementioned is a factor that drive the e-prescribing market trends during the forecast period. For example, in 2011, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services established the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, which encouraged eligible hospitals & critical access hospitals, and clinicians to implement, upgrade (AIU), demonstrate, and adopt the advance Certified EHR Technology (CEHRT).
Rise in focus on the reduction of fraud and abuse of controlled substances
E-prescribing solutions haves been evaluated to have the potential to improve efficiency by streamlining clinical practice workflow throughout the healthcare systems. In addition, these systems have also advanced to improve patient satisfaction with digital care by reducing wait-time at the pharmacy, improved patient compliance, and reduced the cost of medication to patients by automatically recommending cost-effective generics and preferred formulations. Aforementioned features are key indicators that haves supported the growth of the electronic prescribing market and is expected to further garner high revenue growth in the coming years
Regional Insights
North America:
North America holds the largest share in the e-prescribing market, primarily driven by the United States, where healthcare digitalization and government initiatives like the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act have accelerated the adoption of e-prescribing. The U.S. government has mandated the use of e-prescribing for controlled substances, further driving market growth. Major healthcare systems in the U.S. and Canada are increasingly utilizing e-prescribing to reduce medication errors, improve patient safety, and ensure seamless communication between healthcare providers and pharmacies.
Europe:
Europe is another significant region in the e-prescribing market, driven by strong regulatory frameworks that promote electronic healthcare solutions. Countries like Germany, France, and the UK are leading in adoption, with governments mandating the implementation of digital healthcare technologies. The European Union’s focus on enhancing patient safety and improving healthcare efficiency through digital transformation is fostering the use of e-prescribing systems. Additionally, the push for interoperable healthcare systems in Europe is supporting the market's expansion, particularly as part of the EU's Digital Single Market strategy.
Asia-Pacific:
The Asia-Pacific region is expected to witness the highest growth in the e-prescribing market due to increasing investments in healthcare infrastructure and rising awareness of digital health technologies. Countries like Japan, Australia, and India are key markets. In Japan, the aging population and a well-established healthcare system are driving the need for efficient prescription management. In India, the government's initiatives to digitize healthcare services, including the launch of National Digital Health Mission (NDHM), are accelerating the adoption of e-prescribing platforms, especially in urban areas.
Latin America:
In Latin America, the adoption of e-prescribing is gradually increasing, particularly in countries like Brazil and Mexico. The region's healthcare sector is moving towards digitalization, with governments recognizing the importance of e-prescribing in reducing medication errors and streamlining healthcare processes. However, the market is still in its early stages, and challenges such as the lack of robust healthcare IT infrastructure and limited awareness may slow down growth.
Middle East & Africa:
The Middle East & Africa region is slowly adopting e-prescribing technologies, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE being early adopters in the Middle East. The region’s healthcare systems are investing in digital health solutions to improve healthcare outcomes, and e-prescribing is a key component of these initiatives. In Africa, adoption is limited but growing, as countries begin to recognize the potential benefits of e-prescribing in reducing healthcare costs and improving the efficiency of healthcare delivery.
Key Industry Developments
March 2024: Cerner Corporation announced the integration of advanced AI-driven features into its e-prescribing platform to enhance predictive analytics for medication management, aiming to reduce prescription errors in North America.
December 2023: Surescripts, a leading U.S. e-prescribing network, reported a 10% increase in e-prescriptions for controlled substances across the U.S., driven by tighter regulations and greater adoption of digital healthcare practices.
October 2023: DrFirst expanded its partnership with Allscripts in Europe to enhance interoperability between e-prescribing platforms and electronic health record (EHR) systems, facilitating smoother transitions for patients and healthcare providers in Germany and France.
August 2023: Epic Systems launched its cloud-based e-prescribing platform in Australia, focusing on improving patient outcomes by integrating e-prescribing with telehealth services. This move comes as part of the country’s efforts to digitalize healthcare.
June 2023: MediSecure, one of Australia’s largest e-prescribing service providers, announced the rollout of a nationwide initiative in collaboration with the government to ensure wider adoption of e-prescribing in rural areas, addressing healthcare access challenges.
Key Benefits for Stakeholders:
- This study includes the e-prescribing market opportunity, analysis, trends, and future estimations to determine the imminent investment pockets.
- The report presents information related to key drivers, restraints, and opportunities of the e-prescribing industry.
- The e-prescribing market share is quantitatively analyzed from 2018 to 2026 to highlight the financial competency of the industry.
- Porter’s five forces analysis illustrates the potency of the buyers & suppliers in the e-prescribing market.
E-Prescribing Market Report Highlights
| Aspects | Details |
 By Component |
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 By DEPLOYMENT |
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 By End User |
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 By Region |
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 Key Market Players | CHANGE HEALTHCARE, MEDICAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, INC., DRFIRST, EPIC SYSTEMS CORPORATION, ATHENAHEALTH, INC., PRACTICE FUSION, INC., ALLSCRIPTS HEALTHCARE SOLUTIONS, INC., SURESCRIPTS, CERNER CORPORATION, ECLINICALWORKS |
Analyst Review
Healthcare systems have evolved to health information technology (HIT) systems that leverage technology aspects to enable greater cost savings, efficiency, and eventually improved patient outcomes. Encouraged by managed care pharmacists, e-prescribing modules are being significantly integrated with electronic health record systems (EHR) and has been identified benefits over paper prescribing approach. Hence, major managed care organizations such as health maintenance organizations (HMO) and preferred provider organization (PPO) has initiated computerized prescribing by distributing personal digital assistants (PDAs) with their formulary added as a built-in feature for doctors.
Potential benefits of e-prescribing have been leveraged by prescribers, pharmacies, payers, and patients. Majorly, the benefits associated with e-prescribing is categorized into safety, improved prescribing efficiency or workflow, and cost savings. Thus, high adoption of HER systems with e-prescribing has garnered high momentum, which in turn is expected to drive the growth of the market in the coming years.
The global e-prescribing market in Asia-Pacific is expected to anticipate significant opportunities as countries in the region are focused toward digitalizing their IT & healthcare infrastructure. In addition, healthcare industry in the Asia-Pacific is expected to garner high adoption of e-prescribing EHR systems to manage high number of patients, to reduce patient turnaround time, and improve service quality in emergency departments.
Moreover, North America countries have anticipated high revenue growth and is expected to remain dominant during the forecast period. The growth of market in North America is attributed to be well-developed healthcare infrastructure, which has helped easy adoption of e-prescribing into existing HER or HIS systems.
The key players operating in the global e-prescribing market include Allscripts Healthcare, LLC, Athenahealth, Inc., Cerner Corporation, Change Healthcare, DrFirst.com, Inc., eClinicalWorks, Epic Systems Corporation, Medical Information Technology, Inc., Practice Fusion, Inc., and Surescripts. Majority of the players in the market have adopted various revenue and business growth strategies to enhance and develop their product portfolio, strengthen their e-prescribing market share, and help them to increase their market penetration.
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