Naomi Sobelson (’12)
Remember the last time you went to the bank after pay day so you would have money for the week? What is a “check,” you say? Modern American healthcare is going through the same transition of transferring information more seamlessly and accurately.
Electronic prescribing is improving the efficiency, quality, and coordination of healthcare delivery in America. No longer can we afford mistakes—from prescribing to dispensing to administering—in this essential element of our medical care. E-prescribing systems allow qualified health providers to send digital prescriptions from hospitals and practices directly to pharmacies in an instantaneous and secure manner. Automated warnings about drug interactions and formulary rules add an extra level of patient safety, and tracking prevents fraud and abuse. Additionally, these systems help pharmacists and prescribers keep accurate and up-to-date medication lists including over-the-counter, complementary and alternative medications.
Achieving these e-prescribing benefits is not without significant headaches for the medical and health information technology (HIT) fields. Enabling electronic medical records (EMRs) and pharmacy computers to reach across state lines to integrate different medical facilities and specialties has proven labor intensive, complicated, and politically divisive. In addition, the roll out of this technology has been highly fragmented; as American Medical Association Board Chair Cecil B. Wilson, MD notes, there is a “dizzying array” of vendor choices for e-prescribing systems. HIT vendors are rapidly responding to physician requests for the most streamlined system available, including “smart technology” that helps improve prescribing behavior and filter out unnecessary or distracting information.
Although implementation will take time and initial investments, the payoffs are enormous. Physicians who effectively e-prescribe will be eligible for incentive payments from Medicare of 1% of all Medicare Part B payments in 2011, another 1% in 2012, and 0.5% in 2013. There are sticks as well as carrots to look out for, as Medicare plans will penalize doctors who choose not to e-prescribe by reducing their reimbursements by 1% in 2012, 1.5% in 2013, and 2% in 2014. In order to qualify for incentive payments, physicians must e-prescribe at least ten Medicare or Medicaid prescriptions by the end of June of each year, followed by a minimum of fifteen more by the end of each year.
With Medicare pressing incentive and penalty dollars, physicians are being forcefully encouraged to adopt e-prescribing methods in their practices. As a result, all Americans will reap the benefits of fewer medical mistakes, lower drug costs, and increased workflow efficiency for healthcare professionals. The move to adopt such systems is in our individual and collective best interest.
Just ask your doctor.