Patients may be more likely to pick up their medications from the pharmacy when their doctor uses an ePrescribing system, according to the results of a new survey reported on by the Wall Street Journal.

National ePrescribing network provider Surescripts analyzed records from roughly 40 million prescriptions written between 2008 and 2010. The results showed that 76.5 percent of individuals picked up their prescriptions when they were delivered to the pharmacy electronically. Meanwhile, just under 70 percent of patients receiving paper prescriptions retrieved their medications.

Physicians told the news source that handing patients a paper prescription requires the individual to go to the pharmacy to drop it off and then wait for it to be filled. Along the way, patients may forget to drop the paper off or to return to pick up their medications. However, ePrescribing simplifies this process and makes things much easier for patients.

Doctors may have a lot to gain from implementing an ePrescribing system beyond ensuring that more of their patients are taking their medications as instructed. Under the federal government's ePrescribing incentive program, physicians can qualify for bonus payments of up to 2 percent for using the technology.