The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is continuing to nudge doctors toward e-prescribing with the announcement Thursday of an initiative that offers them a boost of 5.1 percent in pay for going digital.
The bonus applies when prescribing for patients with Medicare.
Physicians and other eligible professionals who adopt and use qualified e-prescribing systems to transmit prescriptions to pharmacies may earn an incentive payment of 2 percent of their total Medicare allowed charges during 2009.
The incentive is in addition to a 2 percent incentive payment for 2009 for physicians who successfully report measures under the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI), and both incentive payments are in addition to the 1.1 percent fee schedule update required by the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008, which adds up to a 5.1 percent boost.
"E-prescribing can greatly reduce the number of medication errors that jeopardize the health and safety of Medicare patients and waste precious healthcare dollars treating conditions that never should have happened," said CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems. "The Institute of Medicine says more than 1.5 million Americans are injured every year by drug errors. E-prescribing lets providers know - up front - their patients' medication history and the risk of dangerous interactions."
Requirements for participation
To participate in the e-prescribing incentive program, physicians must have a qualified e-prescribing system with certain required capabilities. Qualified systems must be able to:
- communicate with the patient's pharmacy;
- help the physician identify appropriate drugs and provide information on lower cost alternatives for the patient;
- provide information on formulary and tiered formulary medications;
- and generate alerts about possible adverse events, such as improper dosing, drug-to-drug interactions or allergy concerns.
To earn the incentive payment, physicians must successfully report one of three codes for the e-prescribing measure when submitting claims for specified types of medical visits, indicating:
- they did not prescribe any medications during the visit;
- they used e-prescribing for any medications prescribed during the visit;
- or they did not use e-prescribing for a prescription because the law prohibits electronic prescribing for the specific type of drug, such as a controlled substance.
As required by the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008, which became law on July 15, payment rates for physician fee schedule services will be increased by 1.1 percent in 2009, rather than being reduced by 5.4 percent as would have happened if CMS had applied the physician fee schedule conversion factor projected in the proposed rule.
Total Medicare spending under the 2009 Physician Fee Schedule is projected at $61.9 billion, up 4 percent from the $59.5 billion projected for 2008.
Will Medicare incentives make in difference in whether you adopt e-prescribing? Send your comments to Bernie Monegain at bernie.monegain@medtechpublishing.com.