By Mary Mosquera
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) plans to collect information from physicians and pharmacies that electronically transmit prescriptions in order to help identify what accelerates and what hinders the adoption of e-prescribing.
AHRQ will interview physicians, medical directors, IT administrators, pharmacists and others at 110 organizations over two years, the agency said in a notice in the Sept. 1 Federal Register. AHRQ will accept comments on its plans until Oct. 1.
All e-prescribing systems may not have the same range of features, and physicians may have problems deploying the software, AHRQ said. Several studies have shown that IT system limitations, workflow and training issues, and real or perceived regulatory barriers can be obstacles for physician practices and pharmacies.
The AHRQ study will be the first to ask questions of physician practices and pharmacies in the same communities on the same topics, which should paint a much more complete picture of e-prescribing use. For example, in addition to gaining physician and pharmacy perspectives on electronic transmission, AHRQ will explore how physicians use data about the list of accepted drugs from the patient’s health plan and how pharmacies view changes in communication with physician practices about accepted drugs with e-prescribing.
A 2008 Medicare improvements law authorized incentives for physicians who use e-prescribing. And the stimulus law provides for incentives for meaningful use of electronic health records, including e-prescribing.
The study will help the Health and Human Services Department, state and local government and private healthcare organizations come up with valuable approaches to promote the adoption and effective use of e-prescribing. An AHRQ contractor, the Center for Studying Health System Change, will conduct the study under an existing contract.
Above article published on
http://www.govhealthit.com/newsitem.aspx?nid=72041
Tags: E-Prescribing, electronic health records, prescribing practices
Posted September 2, 2009 by admin under E-Prescription, Electronic Prescription
