Software intended to prevent doctors from prescribing the wrong types of drugs to patients is falling short.

A new study by the Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit that rates hospitals, found that computerized-physician-order-entry systems in hospitals often did not tell a doctor not to prescribe a medication that, based on the patient’s information, presented a potentially serious threat to the patient’s health.

Nearly 40 percent of potentially harmful prescriptions were not flagged by the computer systems in the 1,800 hospitals that voluntarily participated in the study. Thirteen percent of potentially fatal prescriptions were not flagged either.

The report comes in the midst of a national push, including from the Obama administration, to get hospitals to implement electronic health records.

Although there was plenty of initial resistance from medical professionals and providers, EHRs appear to have garnered greater support as they have become more common. A recent study published in a medical journal found that hospitals that have fully implemented EHR systems experience fewer “adverse events.”

Experts that Kaiser Health News talked to about the Leap Frog study responded differently.

“What these findings indicate — and what many other researchers have shown — is that computerized physician order entry is effective at reducing adverse drug events,” Raj Ratwani, scientific director for MedStar Health’s National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare, told Kaiser.

Meanwhile, Helen Haskell, an advocate for patient safety, said she was alarmed by the study. “It shows that the technology is not as foolproof as we would like to think,” she said.

Instant Insights /

Hospital computer systems often allow for dangerous prescriptions

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