Over a third of electronically prescribed glaucoma drugs were not picked up within 1 month after the patient’s request. Feedback-driven guidelines may assist minimize treatment interruptions attributable to electronic prescribing. Glaucoma treatment relies on long-term medication compliance, and various socioeconomic factors limit the capacity of patients to obtain their medications. This study intends to measure treatment interruptions related to electronically prescribed drugs and provide interventions to eliminate this obstacle. This is a cross-sectional study of the electronic prescribing practices at a tertiary care hospital serving a socioeconomically diverse patient population. Glaucoma medication refill requests submitted during a 6-week span were analyzed, and patient pharmacies were contacted 1 month after the requested date to ascertain whether the patient received the drug. Patients who did not pick up the prescriptions were contacted and consented to participate in a survey to assess the hurdles to accessing the drugs. Refill requests of 198 glaucoma drugs matched the inclusion criteria, and the most common classes were prostaglandin analogs (44%) and alpha-2-agonists (21%). Medications were not obtained within 1 month in 71 (35.9%) cases. Prior authorization requirement was strongly related to patients not acquiring their medication (odds ratio, 0.07; 95% CI, 0.03–0.45). Patients stated problems with successfully receiving electronically prescribed drugs included insurance coverage (32.2%) and pharmacy availability (22.6%). Patients did not receive approximately a third of electronically prescribed glaucoma drugs within a month after refill request due to the necessity for prior authorization, insurance coverage, and pharmacy availability. A system to warn physicians and address these impediments to drug access may minimize treatment stoppage and disease progression.
