The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finalized a rule Wednesday for its 2011 Medicare Electronic Prescribing Incentive Program that pushed back a deadline for physicians seeking a hardship waiver to Nov. 1.
Under the program, established under the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA), Medicare is scheduled to apply a 1 percent payment penalty to 2012 payments based on e-prescribing activity by providers in the first half of this year. Payment penalties will escalate in the subsequent years to 1.5 percent in 2013 and 2.0 percent in 2014 for those not meeting minimum e-prescribing requirements.
"Electronic prescribing plays a vital role in improving patient care and helping make our healthcare system more efficient," noted Patrick Conway, MD, chief medical officer with CMS and Director of the Office of Clinical Standards & Quality, in a blog post announcing the rule. "With electronic prescribing, providers can better manage patient prescriptions, reducing drug interactions or other preventable prescription errors."
But the rule also takes into account physicians and providers who may be making significant progress in implementing an EHR. To qualify for this exemption, physicians and providers must register by Oct. 1 and provide additional information detailing the EHR technology they have implemented.
In addition, CMS also has included exemptions for hardship and have pushed back the deadline for physicians applying for these exemptions to the 2012 penalty to Nov. 1, based on feedback from dozens of organizations representing doctors and health professionals.
Hardship exemptions will be granted to physicians under the following conditions:
- Inability to electronically prescribe due to local, state or federal law or regulation;
- Limited prescribing activity;
- Insufficient opportunities to report the electronic prescribing measure;
- Practices in a rural area without sufficient high speed internet access; or
- Practices in an area without sufficient available pharmacies for electronic prescribing.
"We remain committed to the many benefits that come to patients with successful electronic prescribing, and we continue to encourage healthcare professionals to adopt this practice. However, we also can appreciate and acknowledge that this technology poses challenges to some providers," Conway blogged. "Changes in the final rule will help doctors and other healthcare providers in their efforts to become successful e-prescribers, ultimately leading to fewer errors and better care for patients."