An analysis of the 35 million electronic prescriptions written in 2007 shows that healthcare professionals used Chicago-based Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc.'s technology to prescribe more than any other software.

"This validates their efforts to dominate the market," Morningstar equity analyst Rafael Giagarcia said.

SureScripts Inc., operator of the electronic Pharmacy Health Information Exchange which comprised 139 vendors last year, reported that the number of e-prescriptions sent in 2007 was more than 50 times the amount transmitted in 2004, the year the Exchange began.

It was the report of its kind issued by SureScripts  which was created by pharmacy associations in 2001. The Exchange, formed the same year, is based on federal electronic standards. The largest network of its kind, it expects to record at least 100 million e-prescriptions next year.

Allscripts is poised to make the most of that growth, Giagarcia said.

One version of Allscripts e-prescription software is free, and as doctors warm to it, they will buy other versions, he said. And as the economy continues to be rough and the healthcare industry focuses on reducing expenses, more doctors will turn to the e-prescription system, which saves money, Giagarcia said.

The technology eliminates errors caused by pharmacists misinterpreting the poor handwriting of physicians. Such mistakes cause 1.5 million injuries and 7,000 deaths each year, according to the non-profit Institute of Medicine.

"Electronic prescribing should be the rule not the exception," Allscripts CEO Glen Tullman said in a statement.

The market was expecting Allscripts' growth much sooner, Gigarcia said, leading to a sell-off late last year that caused the company's stock to tumble sharply from about $28 to $16. On Wednesday Allscripts shares closed up 62 cents to $16.61. Morningstar puts the company's fair value estimate at $23.

"I think it's going to take some time for the market to realize the potential of Allscripts," Giagarcia said.

Also this week Allscripts announced that it had received SureScripts' advanced certification, which is "really a way of saying that Allscripts is field-tested and has implemented the changes recommended by SureScripts to make (the technology) as user-friendly as possible," SureScripts spokesman Rob Cronin said.

Allscripts reported revenue totaling $73.4 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30. Giagarcia predicts that the company's revenues will grow 23 percent annually until 2010, in part because of its move from smaller clients to bigger markets through the $90 million purchase of Chicago-based Extended Care Network, announced on Jan. 2. Extended Care provides hospitals with software.