Electronic Prescription

By Angela Martin

Payers and health plans have pushed for new incentives for electronic prescription in 2009. For example, in January, Medicare paid doctors a bonus if they exchanged their prescription pads over to e-prescribing. Various private health plans have also offered extra payments along with free equipment.

What the stats say: According to Web sources, the number of physicians prescribing medicines electronically has more than doubled in the past year to about 70,000 (about 12 percent of all office-based doctors). The increase is owing to the incentives introduced at the start of the year. Try not to fall in the 88 percent bracket still holding out in 2010 while throwing out two percent of your Medicare income and possibly other bonuses from private payers.

So have you applied electronic prescription processes? If not you could be missing out on a two percent Medicare bonus. Here’s what you can do to ensure an easy transition.

Before you get going, it is essential that you ask yourself if you want to practice e-prescribing using a stand-alone system or one that is part of an electronic health records (EHR).

Pros and cons:

• Standalone systems are the least expensive and the fastest to implement. But EHRs have additional features that aid in managing a medical practice over the long run.

• Standalones will enable the practice to be up in time for 2010 to optimize the bonus.

• Standalone systems may have the capability to interface with a PM or EHR system.

• The practice can then convert from a standalone system to an integrated system when an EHR is implemented.

But the good news is you do not have to have an EMR (electronic medical record) system to e-prescribe. You can find standalone e-prescription systems such as online options that come much cheaper than a full-blown EMR.

Above article publish on http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=2407907

Tags: EHR, prescribing, Standalone
Posted February 5, 2010 by admin under E-Prescription, EHR, Electronic Prescription

By, Nicolel

E-prescribing is one important component of EHRs. Retail pharmacies are realizing the potential for e-prescribing to increase their safety and productivity, such as Walgreens. The national pharmacy chain’s electronic prescriptions recently reached 4 million in October 2009, a 185-percent increase from the year prior.

It is projected that Walgreens will fill more than 45 million electronic prescriptions in 2009, compared with 15 million filled in 2008. The company expects growth to continue with help from financial incentives in the federal stimulus package, which encourages hospitals, doctors and others to adopt electronic health records, of which e-prescribing is a key component.

“With the federal stimulus package providing $19 billion in incentives to adopt electronic health records, doctors will gain easier access to software that makes electronic prescribing possible,” said Don Huonker, Walgreens’ senior vice president of healthcare innovation.

There is the potential for e-prescribing to increase even more. Currently, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency does not allow doctors to electronically prescribe controlled substances. Walgreens officials are advocating extending e-prescribing to controlled substances since controlled substances currently account for about 15- percent of all medications prescribed.

E-prescribing can increase safety and efficiency, but if electronic prescribing of controlled substances is allowed, it will have to be done carefully and securely. The easier it is to prescribe and obtain these drugs, the easier it may be for people and providers to abuse them.

Above article publish on http://www.ehrscope.com/blog/the-e-prescribing-boom/

Tags: E-Prescribing, EHRs, Walgreens
Posted February 3, 2010 by admin under E-Prescription, Electronic Prescription

Find out what percentage bonus you’ll receive from Medicare.

Can your physician afford not to adopt e-prescribing? If your practice still hasn’t applied electronic prescription processes, then you could be missing out on a two percent Medicare bonus — as well as preventing prescription errors and lowering consumer costs.Follow these three simple steps to ensure an easy transition.

Background: Payers and health plans have pushed for new incentives for electronic prescription this year. For instance, beginning January 2009, Medicare has paid doctors a bonus if they swapped their prescription pads over to e-prescribing. Several private health plans also have offered extra payments along with free equipment (i.e., digital handheld devices).

Free software is available courtesy of technology companies, given away to encourage doctors to go electronic. Remember, free software usually provides what you paid for it. For instance, there is little to no support or training when you sign up for free solutions.

Web sources report that the number of physicians prescribing medicines electronically has more than doubled in the past year to about 70,000, or about 12 percent of all office-based doctors. The increase is attributed mainly to the incentives introduced at the beginning of the year. Don’t be among the 88 percent still holding out in 2010 while throwing out two percent of your Medicare income and possibly other bonuses from private payers.

Step 1: Ask, What E-Scribing System Am I Using?

Before you get started, it is important to ask yourself if you want to practice e-prescribing using a stand-alone system or one that is part of an EHR (electronic health records).

Good news: You do not have to have an EMR (electronic medical record) system to e-prescribe. You can find stand-alone e-prescription systems, such as online options, that are substantially less costly than a full-blown EMR.

Red flag: Also, if you’re adopting e-scribing, you definitely need to check the regulatory requirements of your state. Get in touch with state officials and make sure you comply with any applicable e-prescribing requirements specific to your state.

Step 2: Bill 1 of the Denominator Codes

Your first step (for 2009) is to report one of the following denominator codes:

• E/M service codes 99201-99205 and 99211-99215;

• Outpatient consultation codes 99241-99245; or

• G codes G0108 (Diabetes outpatient self-management training services, individual, per 30 minutes) or G0109 (Diabetes selfmanagement training services, group session [2 or more], per 30 minutes).

Report any of these codes on the claim for each patient visit during the reporting period that meets the denominator coding criteria.

Step 3: Report G8443-G8446 as the Numerator:

If your practice operates a qualified e-prescribing system in 2009, report one of the following G codes on more than 50 percent of applicable Medicare cases for the numerator:

• G8443 — All prescriptions created during the encounter were generated using a qualified e-prescribing system

• G8445 — No prescriptions were generated during the encounter, but the provider does have access to a qualified e-prescribing system

• G8446 — The provider does have access to a qualified e-prescribing system, but some or all prescriptions generated during the encounter were printed or phoned in as required by state or federal law or regulations, patient request, or pharmacy system being unable to receive electronic transmission  or the prescription was not e-prescribed because it was for narcotics or other controlled substances.

Remember: The applicable “G” code must go on the same claim as the “denominator” service.

Examples: A Medicare patient sees the doctor for chronic serous otitis media. At the end of the E/M service, the physician prescribes an antibiotic via e-prescribing. You should report the service as follows:

• 99213 (Office or other outpatient visit …) linked to 381.01 (Acute serous otitis media)

• G8443.

Similarly, a patient goes to the doctor for a cold, suspecting that it may involve a sinus infection. The doctor determines that the patient is merely suffering from a cold, however, and orders only over-the-counter preparations. Because the physician writes no prescriptions, you should bill the visit (a level 2) as follows:

• 99212 (Office or other outpatient visit …) linked to 460 (Acute nasopharyngitis)

• G8445.

Finally, a patient has chronic migraines as a result of his chronic frontal sinusitis. The physician documents a level 4 service. He orders some prescriptions via escribing, and the doctor writes a manual script for Vicodin on a paper script, because it is a controlled substance.

You shouldreport:

• 99214 (Office or other outpatient visit …) linked to 473.1 (Chronic sinusitis; frontal)

• G8446.

Reap the E-Prescribing Rewards

One benefit of electronic prescribing is that it allows doctors to transmit prescriptions through a secure Internet network, through a clearinghouse, and ultimately to the pharmacies using an office or laptop computer or a digital handheld device. Several studies have shown that e-prescribing reduces prescription errors and cuts costs for consumers and providers.

Also, Medicare released the new incentive guideline, which says: “Physicians who adopt eprescription systems are eligible to earn a bonus of 2 percent of their total Medicare allowed charges.” The rules on how you’ll report your e-prescribing, however, will change next year. Effective Jan. 1, you’ll only report an e-prescribing code when a visit results in an electronic prescription being placed. You’ll need to report this code at least 25 times during the reporting period to be a successful e-prescriber.

Above article publish on http://hitnews.inhealthcare.com/hit-help-desk/physician-practices-follow-3-simple-steps-to-enter-the-e-prescribing-era/?dynamic_id=163500626

Tags: E-Prescribing Era, E-Scribing, Medicare
Posted January 25, 2010 by admin under E-Prescription, Electronic Prescription, Medicare Law

By Anthony Pensabene

Are you a doctor searching for better ways to treat your patients? Do you want to address administrative duties in an efficient and timely manner? E-prescribing software offers a viable solution. The benefits of electronic prescription have been aiding doctors for some time now while more doctors are realizing the benefits of such a system and implementing the software into their practices. What are the benefits of e-prescribing software? Read on to find out more.

Display of pertinent, patient information A patient’s prior and present information is important to the medical process. A doctor needs to know of their prior history and present state in order to treat them properly. Electronic prescribing software indicates if the patient is eligible for care according in regards to the patient’s insurance policies. Furthermore, the software makes doctors aware of patient-medication histories and pharmacy-fill histories.

Real-time support tools Doctors are certain as to how their prescribed medicines will influence the patient, but they also need to know how other medications and patients allergies will react while taking the doctor-prescribed medication. The software serves as a decision-support tool for doctors. In addition, the e-prescribing system can check for appropriate dosages and duplicate forms of therapy.

Efficient communication with pharmacies There are many parties who play a crucial part in the healthcare process. Doctors must maintain good communication with a patient’s pharmacy to ensure they are getting extraordinary care. Using the e-prescription software, a doctor can access renewal requests from pharmacies, renew medications for multiple patients, and write a prescription from an often-used ‘favorite’ list. Furthermore, a doctor can send electronic prescriptions to a patient’s pharmacy of choice (including mail-order pharmacies).

More benefits…

• Satisfies MIPPA requirements, which qualify physicians for annual bonuses

• Clinical information displayed during prescription process

• Real-time clinical decision support tools

• Access renewal requests from pharmacies

• Send prescriptions electronically to the patient’s pharmacy of choice

• Securely share patient data with other treating physicians and send/receive referrals

• Patient information protected by strict privacy and security measures

Above article publish on http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=2482144

Tags: benefits, E-Prescribing, Electronic Prescribing
Posted January 19, 2010 by admin under E-Prescription, Electronic Prescription

Benefits from EHR and e-prescribing investments come under very broad, diverse categories but are very individual and specific to the retrospective context of an investment, according to a study by the European Commission. There is no single correct strategy for implementing EHRs and e-prescribing systems, yet the results of the study give grounds for optimism in the success, value and deployment of interoperable EHR and e-prescribing systems after a few years.

The European Commission investigated the qualitative socio-economic impact of interoperable EHR and e-prescribing systems in 11 practice cases in Europe, the U.S. and Israel to provide insight into factors surrounding successful EHR and e-prescribing deployment. Nine of the cases also underwent a quantitative evaluation of their socio-economic impacts.

“Decisions to invest in EHR and e-prescribing systems should [involve the adoption of] strategies that fit their local or regional setting and be designed to succeed by meeting clearly identified, measurable needs,” concluded the Commission.

The socio-economic gain to society from interoperable EHR and e-prescribing systems eventually exceed the costs, according to the commision. While it found that a typical development can reach an annual socio-economic return (SER) of up to 400 percent, it can take at least four–and up to nine–years before initiatives produce their first positive annual SER.

According to the European Commission, it can take an average of nine years to realize a cumulative net benefit.  “Plans to invest in EHRs and e-prescribing systems should have a clear focus on achieving changes at the right time,” the commission reported. Longer time scales are generally associated with a lower risk of failure, according to the report.

In the study, the average distribution of costs were allocated from citizens (2 percent), providers (11 percent), health provider organizations (80 percent) and third parties (7 percent). The average distribution of benefits were dispursed between citizens (17 percent), providers (17 percent), health provider organizations (61 percent) and third parties (5 percent).

“From a systematic perspective, no single or small group of benefits comprise a sufficient reason for investment in EHR and e-prescribing systems,” the report found.

The total value of invested financial and non-financial resources at the evaluated sites was extremely wide with 42 percent of these expenditures on information and communication technologies.

According to the organization, an opportunity exists for all EHR and e-prescribing systems to facilitate a productive dialogue between users and information and communication technology experts before spending large sums of money on actual solutions. “Continouous engagement with healthcare professionals from the outset is essential and time-consuming, but must not be avoided,” stated the report. “If it is, it has bigger costs downstream.”

Another potential opportunity is to use interoperability as a prime driver of benefits. “Without the meaningful hearing and exchange of information, the gains would be marginal and not justify the cost of investments,” said the report.

Above article publish on http://www.healthimaging.com/index.php?option=com_articles&view=article&id=20149:study-implementing-ehr-e-prescribing-is-challenging-but-beneficial-over-time

Tags: E-Prescribing, EHR, European Commission
Posted January 13, 2010 by admin under E-Prescription, EHR

By Ursula Pennell

E-prescribing Overview:

E-prescribing has been described as the solution to improved patient safety and reducing sky-rocketing medication costs. It is estimated that approximately 7,000 deaths occur each year in the United States due to medication errors. These errors are predominately due to hand-writing illegibility, wrong dosing, missed drug-drug or drug-allergy reactions. With approximately 3 billion prescriptions written annually, which constitutes one of the largest paper-based processes in the United States, the writing of prescriptions can be streamlined and efficient by using an e-prescribing system.

What is e-prescribing?

E-prescribing is simply an electronic way to generate prescriptions through an automated data-entry process utilizing e-prescribing software and a transmission network which links to participating pharmacies.

1. Improved patient safety and overall quality of care:

• Illegibility from hand-written prescriptions is eliminated, decreasing the risk of medication errors and decreasing liability risks.
• Warning and Alert systems are provided at the point of prescribing: It has been documented that medication errors are often the result of inadequate access to current drug reference information. E-prescribing systems can provide an overall medication management process through drug utilization review (DUR) programs. DUR programs perform checks against the patient’s current medications for drug-drug interactions, drug-allergy interactions, diagnoses, body weight, age, drug appropriateness, correct dosing; contraindications, adverse reactions, duplicate therapy alert etc. and alerts the provider if interactions are found. E-prescribing software can also include such drug reference software programs as ePocrates Rx. Pro and the PDR.
• Access to patient’s medical history. Knowing the patient’s medical history at the time of prescribing can serve as an alert to drug inappropriateness.

2. Reduces or eliminates phone calls and call-backs to pharmacies. Physician offices receive over 150 million call-backs from pharmacies with questions, clarifications and refill requests. According to HIMSS article on e-prescribing under Topics and Tools at their website almost 30 percent of the 3 billion prescriptions written annually require a call backs. This equals 900 million prescription-related telephone calls annually1.

3. Eliminates faxes to pharmacies.

4. Streamlines the refill’s requests and authorization processes. Refill authorization from the pharmacy can be a completely automated process and refills can usually be generated in one click. The pharmacist generates a refill request/authorization that is delivered through the network to the provider’s system, the provider then reviews the request, approves or denies the refill and the pharmacy system is immediately updated.

5. Increases patient compliance. It is estimated that 20% of paper-based prescription orders go unfilled by the patient. E-prescribing systems expedite the filling of prescription at the pharmacy and drug literature can be printed for patients as well.

6. Improves Formulary adherence. By checking with healthcare formularies at point-of-care, generic substitutions and generic first-line therapy choices are encouraged thus reducing patient costs.

7. Increases patient convenience by reducing patient trips to the pharmacy and reducing wait times.

8. Offers true Provider Mobility Full mobility can be attained when using a wireless network to write or authorize prescriptions anytime from anywhere.

9. Improves reporting ability. Query reporting may be performed which would be impossible with a paper prescription system. Common examples of such reporting would be: finding all patients who have had a particular medication prescribed to them during a drug recall, the frequency of medication prescribed by certain providers etc..

Note: controlled substances are currently not permitted to be filled via electronic means. If a user attempts to send a controlled substance electronically – a system message informs the user that this medication can not be filled this way and offers options to print or fax.

What your practice needs to do to get started e-prescribing:

1. Decide whether you wish to choose a stand-alone e-prescription software or a full EMR system which includes e-prescribing functionality.
2. Choose an e-prescribing software vendor. The e-prescribing vendor will need to utilize a company which supplies the electronic prescribing network (hub or gateway for transmissions). There are a few different e-prescription networking companies. Among the industry leaders are SureScripts (http://surescripts.com/), RxHub (http://www.rxhub.net/index.html), and ProxyMed (http://www.proxymed.com/). It is unlikely that physicians would have any reason to have direct contact with the electronic networking vendor. SureScripts, the nation’s largest electronic prescribing network, provides a true, seamless electronic connection between physician offices and pharmacies. This network provides secure and reliable two-way transmissions between physicians and pharmacies. More than 85% of chain and independent pharmacies have tested and certified their systems to connect to the SureScript electronic prescribing network.
3. Install an internet connection; high speed is highly recommended.
4. Purchase hardware such as desktop PC’s, laptops, pocket PC’s, tablet PC’s , PDA’s utilizing a wired or wireless network.

Above article publish on http://www.emrconsultant.com/education/e-prescribing

Tags: E-Prescribing, prescriptions, SureScripts
Posted January 8, 2010 by admin under E-Prescription, Electronic Prescription

By Heather B. Hayes

The state of Delaware credits a decision a year ago to fund e-prescribing start-up costs for the top Medicaid providers in the state for a 150 percent jump in the number of Medicaid providers now using the e-health service.

The top-down approach, which included offering e-prescribing technology and training services to the top 50 Medicaid providers in the state, has sparked adoption of prescribing by one in five Delaware Medicaid providers, according to state healthcare officials.

“It surprised us even that the level of participation actually more than doubled in such a short period of time,” said Rita Landgraf, secretary of the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services.

The number of medication history inquiries also rose from an average of 500 a month in the first three months of the program to more than 11,000 a month in October 2009, she said. “We believe that we’ll continue to see this growth.”

The Delaware Medicaid E-Prescribing Network, which went live a year ago, was launched by the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services Division of Medicaid and Medical Assistance (DMMA) with a $1 million Medicaid Transformation Grant from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The network was built and is being managed by HP Enterprise Services (formerly EDS), Delaware’s fiscal agent since 1989.

The network is integrated with the state’s Medicaid Management Information System and enables physicians to securely verify Medicaid benefit eligibility, access medication history from Medicaid and other third-party payers, view the Medicaid formulary and transmit electronic prescriptions to pharmacies.

Landgraf credits the pilot project as a big driver for getting physicians to start using e-prescribing. It involved providing e-prescribing hardware, software and training to the 50 highest-volume Medicaid providers in the state.

Although the physicians in this group represented only 2 percent of the state’s Medicaid providers, they were responsible for 20 percent of the total annual paid pharmacy claims volume, she said.

“With this approach, we’re first getting the high-volume prescribers connected first and then working our way down, so that we may be able to use those practitioners to do the training as well, like the ‘train the trainer’ model so we can leverage our resources across the board,” Landgraf said.

The Medicaid network also expanded e-prescribing features available to the estimated 200 providers that had already adopted an e-prescribing system offered through the State Employees Health Plan and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware.

The new system offers them access to the full medication histories of Medicaid patients and Medicaid formularies, among other things.

As the Medicaid-e-prescribing network expands, DMMA officials are hoping to conduct studies that validate the advantages of e-prescribing. These include fewer errors, increased patient safety, time and cost savings and a reduction in fraud.

Landgraf said she would like to continue to provide additional financial incentives to other providers who have yet to adopt e-prescribing. Her department is also looking to see how grant funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 might be applied.

“I think it’s necessary to provide physicians that additional support to bring them into the system in order to overcome their reluctance,” she said. “Not just giving them money, but also the technical assistance and training to help them get the hardware and software, incorporate it into their practice and get them up to speed quickly.”

Above Article publish on http://www.govhealthit.com/newsitem.aspx?nid=72507

Tags: E-Prescribing, Medicaid
Posted December 24, 2009 by admin under E-Prescription, Medicare Incentive, Medicare Law

By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee

Rhode Island is the first state in the U.S. to begin tracking swine flu outbreaks using e-prescription data.

State public health officials are electronically monitoring possible H1NI outbreaks based on e-prescription data from pharmacies that dispense Tamiflu and three other antiviral drugs used to treat seasonal flu and swine flu.

One hundred percent of the approximately 183 pharmacies in Rhode Island are currently connected into an e-prescription network provided by Surescripts, which along with the pharmacies will be providing public health officials with the flu drug data weekly.

The data will include prescriptions ordered by doctors electronically, or by paper, fax, or phone from independent drugstores as well as those operated by large retail chains such as CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, and Stop & Shop.

Public health officials will receive de-identified prescription data along with ZIP codes and ages of patients to aid in the tracking and trending of flu outbreaks through the state. The system uses a computer program that complements another flu tracking system used by state officials. That system includes data from Sentinel, which collects flu data reported by 25 doctor practices located in various geographic regions of the state, and another state system that collects data from hospital emergency departments.

By tracking data from multiple sources, public health officials will get a more comprehensive look at developing trends, such as identifying possible H1N1 outbreaks based on location or patient age, such as clusters of school age children in specific towns.

By using the e-prescription data along with Sentinel and ER data, state health officials can also detect and monitor discrepancies between outbreaks reported by doctors versus outbreaks suggested by the number of flu related drugs being prescribed. The discrepancies could be due to factors such as the over-prescription of flu medicines in absence of actual flu cases, as well as the under-reporting of flu by doctors in a region.

For instance, if state public health officials determine that doctors within a certain zip code are prescribing an usually large number of antiviral medicines in the absence of reported flu cases, state officials could target outreach and educational programs to healthcare providers in those regions.

The system can also give public health officials notice if supplies of Tamiflu and other antiviral medicine are running low, which could trigger the state to release emergency stockpiles.

Thanks to ongoing efforts by a statewide collaborative of healthcare providers, consumers, and leaders from government and academia working to improve healthcare in the state — Rhode Island is the state with the highest percentage of pharmacies hooked into Surescript’s national e-prescribing network, said a Surescript spokesman.

Above article published on http://www.informationweek.com/news/healthcare/interoperability/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=220900545

Tags: H1NI, SureScripts, swine flu
Posted December 17, 2009 by admin under E-Prescription, Electronic Prescription

By Kyle Hardy

A group of Virginia-based healthcare executives, pharmacists and other stakeholders has launched a new Web site to push the commonwealth toward e-prescribing.

CommonwealthRx, which was launched earlier this year to increase the volume of e-prescribing in Virginia, rolled out its new Web site at the annual meeting of the Virginia Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.

“Creating a more robust e-prescription climate is an important step in driving broader adoption and meaningful use of health information technology,” said the group’s chairman, Michael Matthews, who’s also the CEO of MedVirginia.

CommonwealthRx officials said the initiative will include a statewide steering committee and advisory council, as well as a structure to support the meaningful use of secure e-prescribing and ongoing support to prescribers seeking federal incentive funding and avoiding penalties for not adopting the technology.

CommonwealthRx plans to work with state organizations to leverage healthcare IT stimulus funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) for training and installation of electronic health record systems that include e-prescribing.

“Electronic prescribing is a proven and effective means of enhancing healthcare outcomes, while reducing healthcare costs and avoidable medical errors,” said Marilyn Tavenner, Virginia’s secretary of health and human resources. “This collaboration between major healthcare stakeholders is an early example of our effort to provide Virginia physicians with the tools necessary to successfully adopt and utilize health information technology.”

CommonwealthRx officials said the group’s goal is to move Virginia into the “Top 10 in 2010” with regard to the percentage of e-prescriptions submitted.

Above article published on http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/virginia-group-launches-web-site-promote-e-prescribing

Tags: CommonwealthRx, E-Prescribing, MedVirginia
Posted December 16, 2009 by admin under E-Prescription, Hospital

By Brian Robinson

Electronic prescribing, often described as the lowest hanging fruit in health IT, could be set to make a big leap forward as organizations in states such as Iowa look to provide free e-prescribing services for physicians and federal legislation starts to drive nationwide adoption of the technology.

The Iowa program, called ePrescribe Iowa, is a Web-based effort launched by Iowa Health System, a community-based integrated health care system, and Allscripts, a major provider of e-prescribing software. It will run on Iowa Health System’s HealthNet connect, a 3,200 mile-long fiberoptic network.

It’s a standalone solution that the partners are touting as a first step in driving the adoption of electronic health records throughout the state. It shares that goal with the federal stimulus funds that will be provided to physicians under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act.

Less than 3 percent of all prescriptions written in Iowa in 2008 used e-prescribing, according to ePrescribe Iowa, citing figures produced by Surescripts, the largest U.S. e-prescribing network.

“By adding significant new capabilities to HealthNet connect, this offering will help accelerate Iowa Health System’s efforts to connect urban and rural health facilities and enable better care,” said Bill Leaver, Iowa Health System’s president and chief executive officer.

Nationwide, things are somewhat better. Even so, less than a quarter of prescription writers currently use e-prescribing, according to Surescripts, though it expects that to improve rapidly to 50 percent or more by 2011.

The key to that is getting small and medium-sized practices, which write the majority of prescriptions, to use the technology, said Rick Ratliff, executive vice president, customers and markets, at Surescripts. Most large medical practices are already on-board with e-prescribing, with the majority of those using electronic medical record systems to write prescriptions.

The answer lies with incentives offered through Medicare and HITECH, as well as support that will be provided through the regional high tech extension centers that will result from the Health IT Technology Extension Program, a grant program authorized under the HITECH legislation.

“For small practices in particular, the key is to find a solution that meets their requirements and then provide them with the ability to get it into the practice,” said Ratliff. “But those smaller practices don’t have any IT staff, so they need the support” that the extension centers will offer.

The ePrescribe Iowa system gets around that by offering its solution over the Web. All users need is a PC and Web browser and Allscripts, which developed the software-as-a-service solution, claims physicians can start e-prescribing with just 30 minutes of training.

As the health IT incentives start to work and meaningful use measures are defined, Surescripts expects a rapid growth in e-prescribing. The 2009 figure will be double the 74,000 users 2008, and Ratliffe said some 30 percent of U.S. prescribers could be writing their scripts electronically by the end of 2010, with 50 percent or more e-prescribing by 2011.

Above article published on http://www.govhealthit.com/newsitem.aspx?tid=77&nid=72207

Tags: Allscripts, Electronic Prescribing, HealthNet
Posted December 9, 2009 by admin under E-Prescription, Electronic Prescription