If your medical practice has not yet implemented electronic prescribing, you are among about 70 percent of physicians in the nation. You also may be missing out on free money.

On January 1, Medicare began paying a 2-percent bonus to physicians who use a qualified e-prescription system on 50 percent of their Medicare patients. That incentive will be offered through 2010, and will then decrease to 1 percent for two years. Those physicians who are still writing paper prescriptions in 2012 will find their Medicare payments cut, when penalties begin to be assessed.

According to the October 2008 “Clinician’s Guide to Electronic Prescribing” from the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), a “qualified” e-prescribing system must be capable of performing all of the following functions:

  • Generating a complete active medication list incorporating electronic data received from applicable pharmacy drug plans
  • Selecting medications, printing prescriptions, electronically transmitting prescriptions, and conducting all required safety checks, including drug-drug interactions, allergy concerns, warnings, etc.
  • Providing information related to the availability of lower cost, therapeutically appropriate alternatives (if any)
  • Providing information on formulary or tiered formulary medications, patient eligibility, and authorization requirements

“Our members are asking us whether or not they should do it,” says Steven Waldren, MD, director of the Center for Health Information Technology for AAFP. “We push for the implementation of electronic health records (EHR), because we think that’s where the future is. The decision has become somewhat easier now with the stimulus package money that’s being offered for implementing EHR.”

The government is offering $44,000 per physician. “A doctor gets the money once he or she demonstrates the use of the system, and it is paid over five years,” Waldren says. The dollar amount will decrease each year, so a doctor won’t receive the full amount if he waits too long to implement the EHR system. In addition, computer-generated faxed prescriptions are no longer in compliance with Medicare requirements as of this year.

“The biggest hurdles physicians face in implementing an electronic system are the up-front cost and access to capital,” Waldren says. “But also critical to the success of such a system is the process of redesigning the practice. If you use the compensation you’re given to implement your same processes through the electronic system, you won’t realize the efficiencies it can offer.”

The $44,000 can go a long way toward offsetting the cost of an EHR system, which sells for between $2,000 and $5,000, depending on the type, says Waldren. There are stand-alone e-prescription systems or EHR systems with an integrated e-prescribing module. Regardless of what you choose, each system offers you a powerful tool for managing patient medications. Waldren says that specific benefits to a medical practice include:

  • Improving patient safety and quality of care, because the system eliminates illegibility from hand-written prescriptions and oral miscommunications. Warnings and alerts are provided at the point of prescribing, which can help eliminate drug interactions. Also, the physician has access to a patient’s medical and medication history from all providers through the electronic system.
  • Reduction of time spent on phone calls and call-backs to pharmacies.
  • Reducing time spent faxing prescriptions to pharmacies.
  • Automating the prescription renewal request and authorization process.
  • Increasing patient convenience and medication compliance.
  • Improving formulary adherence.

The AAFP, in conjunction with the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Cardiology, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and Medical Group Management Association, launched a program last year designed to help physicians send prescriptions to pharmacies electronically. The “Get Connected” program features a web site (www.getrxconnected.org) where physicians can assess their e-prescribing readiness and learn what they need to do to implement it into their practices.

“Clearly, e-prescribing is inching closer to the top of the federal government’s ‘must-do’ list, and physicians need to prepare,” Waldren says. “The web site can lead you through the process for transitioning to e-prescribing, and if you haven’t yet invested in an EHR system, the site offers the latest recommendations on how to evaluate and purchase technology that supports e-prescribing.”

Another issue is connectivity with pharmacies. While almost all pharmacy chains are part of a national e-prescription network operated by SureScripts, smaller drugstores may not be connected to receive electronic prescriptions. “Stores in rural areas and independent pharmacies are less likely to be connected,” Waldren says. “Physicians can go to www.SureScripts.com and find the pharmacies that are connected.”

Waldren recommends that doctors start asking patients which pharmacies they use, and go talk to the top five on the list about participation in e-prescribing

Above article published on

http://www.birminghammedicalnews.com/news.php?viewStory=1259

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Posted July 9, 2009 by admin under E-Prescription, Electronic Prescription

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