Clinical systems · E-prescribing and medication management
DrFirst
DrFirst is a health IT company in Rockville, Maryland, that builds e-prescribing, controlled substance prescribing, medication history, prior authorization, and prescription price tools that run inside about 270 EHRs and in its own iPrescribe app.
Strong fit
- EHR vendors that want to embed e-prescribing and prior authorization without building them
- Independent prescribers who want a low-cost mobile app for controlled substance prescriptions
- Hospitals and health systems that want medication history and benefit checks while prescribing
Weak fit
- Prescribers who want phone support on the entry plan, which offers chat and email
- Practices looking for a full EHR
- Teams that need a polished desktop app, since reviews of the older Rcopia product are mixed
Bottom line
DrFirst is one of the main e-prescribing and medication management networks in US health IT, used by more than 670,000 providers through 270 EHRs and its own iPrescribe app. It is worth a look for EHR vendors and practices that want prescribing, prior authorization, and price checks in one workflow, and its new AI prior authorization tool posted strong pilot numbers. User reviews of its prescribing apps are mixed.
Score breakdown
Weights: Outcomes 35% · Product 30% · Implementation 20% · Pricing clarity 15%.
Most people who use DrFirst never see its name. EHR companies, hospitals, and pharmacies license its tools so that prescribers can send electronic prescriptions, including for controlled substances, see a patient's medication history, check what a drug will cost under the patient's plan, and file prior authorizations. Its solutions are used by more than 670,000 providers, 71,000 pharmacies, 270 EHRs, and 2,000 hospitals, according to an August 2026 announcement. Independent prescribers can also use its iPrescribe app without an EHR.
For small practices, DrFirst is at the low end of the market and publishes its prices: iPrescribe Mobile costs $30 per license per month and the Practice plan costs $50, both billed annually, according to its pricing page. Enterprise and EHR-integrated deals are quoted with a one-time integration fee. Among companies we review, RXNT sells e-prescribing as part of its own EHR suite, and SamaCare, Develop Health, and Latent automate medication prior authorizations.
James Chen founded DrFirst in 2000, and the company says it was first to market with electronic prescribing for controlled substances and real-time prescription benefit checks. Laizer Kornwasser, a former Teladoc Health and Medco executive, became CEO in July 2025, with Chen as executive chairman, according to the company. In April 2024 DrFirst bought the assets of Myndshft, whose software handles prior authorization for drugs covered under medical benefits, such as infusions. DrFirst is privately held and does not publish revenue; we estimate it at about $110 million a year.
In a one-month pilot of its new electronic prior authorization tool, covering 150,000 prior authorizations, DrFirst's AI filled in 63% of pharmacy benefit manager question sets with no edits from clinicians, and more than 90% once a clinician answered one question the chart could not. The median time from opening a request to submitting it was 49 seconds.
Reviews on G2 average 3.0 out of 5 across 11 reviews. Users like iPrescribe for after-hours prescribing, and a critic of the older Rcopia product called it immature.
What customers say
What people like
"iPrescribe is a game changer for after hours and on call prescribing." G2
"Makes the prior authorization process easy by allowing it to be processed electronically." G2
What people don't like
"It has potential but it is a very immature product." G2
Competitor landscape
| Vendor | Overall | Ease of implementation |
|---|---|---|
| Latent | 7.9 | 7.4 |
| DrFirst | 7.5 | 7.2 |
| RXNT | 7.5 | 7.3 |
| SamaCare | 7.1 | 7.0 |
| Develop Health | 7.0 | 6.8 |
Pricing
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Model | Per-license subscriptions for iPrescribe; custom enterprise pricing with a one-time integration fee for EHR integration. |
| What usually drives cost | Number of prescriber licenses, mobile or desktop access, multi-state controlled substance prescribing, and EHR integration. |
| What to ask before you buy | Whether prior authorization, medication history, and price transparency modules are priced on top of e-prescribing. |
| Published pricing | iPrescribe Mobile $30 and Practice $50 per license per month, billed annually. |
Leadership
Laizer KornwasserCEO- James ChenFounder and Executive Chairman
- G. Cameron DeemerVice Chairman
Methodology
| Weight | Factor | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| 35% | Customer outcomes | Whether buyers get measurable operational or clinical-workflow results after go-live |
| 30% | Product | Capability depth, reliability, and fit for the job the category buys |
| 20% | Implementation | How hard it is to stand up, integrate, train, and stabilize |
| 15% | Pricing clarity | Whether a buyer can model total cost without a mystery quote |
| Label | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Highly recommend | Strong outcomes and product with manageable caveats |
| Recommend | Solid fit for the right buyer; know the tradeoffs |
| Conditional | Only with a specific use case or heavy caveats |
| Not recommended | Avoid for most buyers in this category |
Read our full methodology for how we weight scores and assign recommend labels.