Occurrence of prescriptions for noncurrent - changed or terminated -treatment and prescription duplicates in electronic medical records and the Swedish national prescription repository

Patient adherence to prescribed treatment for chronic conditions has been estimated to be on average about 50% [1] and drug related problems may cause as much as 30% of acute admittances to hospital care [2]. Discrepancies between medical records and patients’ actual current medication are common [3-5]. The objective of the present study was to compare current prescribed treatment stated by patients with the printouts from the electronic medical record (EMR) and the Swedish national prescription repository (NPR) with regard to (1) prescriptions for noncurrent (previously changed or terminated) treatment, (2) prescription duplicates and (3) missing prescriptions. Design: Cross-sectional study. Patients over 18 years of age with 5 or more prescriptions stored in the NPR or the EMR, with follow-up visit at a health care centre or visiting a pharmacy, were invited to the study. Patients giving written informed consent to participate were interviewed. The stated prescribed current, ongoing treatment was compared with printouts of prescribed medication from the EMR and of the stored prescriptions in the NPR. Main Outcome Measures: Proportions of prescriptions for (a) noncurrent treatment (changed or terminated), (b) prescription duplicates and (c) missing prescriptions in the EMR and the NPR. Results: 216 patients with altogether 2515 prescriptions were included. In total, 71% were unique prescriptions for current ongoing treatment, 17% were prescriptions for noncurrent treatment (changed or terminated therapy) and 11% were prescription duplicates. Of 2195 prescriptions in the EMR, 75% were unique prescriptions for current treatment, 13% were noncurrent, 11% were prescription duplicates and 8% of the current prescriptions were missing. Of 1904 prescriptions in the NPR, 75% were unique prescriptions for current ongoing medication, 13% were noncurrent prescriptions, 11% were prescription duplicates and 20% of the current prescriptions were missing. The EMR and the NPR contained ≥1 noncurrent prescription or duplicate for 76% and 69% of patients. Conclusion: Prescriptions for noncurrent treatment and prescription duplicates as well as missing prescriptions are common in both EMR and the Swedish NPR. Consequently, claims data based on data of prescribed medicines in the EMR or the stored prescriptions in NPR contain many errors. Adherence estimates measured as “claims data” for prescriptions in the EMR and NPR may deviate significantly from true figures