The economic stimulus legislation will increase e-prescribing adoption to more than 75 percent of prescribers in five years, according to a consulting firm that conducted a study on behalf of a pharmaceutical group.

The stimulus bill, and its $19 billion investment in health information technology, will spur a fourfold increase in e-prescribing over current levels, according to the analysis by Minneapolis-based Visante. The firm estimates that e-prescribing will save public and private payers $78.2 billion in the first 10 years once the 75 percent adoption rate is achieved, thanks to a reduction of medication errors and hospitalizations.

The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008, which offers physicians a 2 percent bonus on their Medicare claims for e-prescribing and a 1 percent penalty by 2012 for non-compliance, was expected to yield only a 40 percent adoption rate by 2014, according to Visante.