US hospitals are investing in pharmacy information systems to meet accompanying technological and workload demands as well as implement evidence-based medical care. The automation of pharmacy processes, including verification of patient identity and automated medication alerts, when linked to other advanced clinical information systems such as computerised physician order entry (CPOE) systems and the electronic medical record (EMR) has a synergistic effect on improving healthcare quality. Our research shows that US hospitals are actively involved in acquiring pharmacy information systems. One thousand six hundred seventy one US hospitals or 32% have operational pharmacy information systems and 732 of them currently have CPOE systems linked to the pharmacy information system. In addition, 3,995 US hospitals currently have automated dispensing machines (ADM) with 910 planned for future installation. As a result, the increasing investment in pharmacy information systems is providing state-of-the-art medication support which enhances patient safety and healthcare quality. © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.