JACKSONVILLE, FL – A coordinated effort is under way in Florida to prompt more physicians to use electronic prescribing.
The initiative, called ePrescribe Florida, followed a new tack in first gaining support from large health plans and influential provider organizations.
Now, with some physician organizations also voicing support, ePrescribe Florida hopes to sign up a significant number of physicians to commit to using electronic prescribing. The organization hopes to use incentives from health plans and the state to help cover physicians’ financial outlays.
Broad health plan and professional association support also makes the Florida program unique, and it could become a model for other states, said Walt Culbertson, its executive director.
However, he said the Florida approach will need to be persuasive if it is to entice physicians to make the switch from prescription pads to PDAs.
“The biggest stumbling block will be getting physicians to stop and take a look at the program,” he said. “The money may help, but before we get to funding, we have to get them to stop and hear the message and look at the data about saving their staffs and patients time.”
“The challenge is it will not save doctors time right off the bat,” he added. “To get them to adopt it, it will take incentives, a groundswell of patients asking for it, and payers insisting that it’s part of their responsibilities as a network provider.”
The state is off to a slow start with e-prescribing – Culbertson estimates that 12 percent to 15 percent of the state’s physicians use it.
Professional associations give ePrescribe Florida some peer pressure. Representatives from several associations including the Florida Medical Association, the Florida Osteopathic Medical Association, the state’s chapter of the American College of Cardiology and the Florida Academy of Family Physicians are on its steering committee.
The coalition first drafted support from large health plans, including Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Humana, UnitedHealthcare, Cigna Healthcare and AvMed.
“All leading health plans are looking at various strategies around quality and pay for performance” to induce physicians to adopt electronic prescribing, Culbertson said.
Payers have various ways of getting information to providers. “One health plan may only be supporting answering eligibility questions with a yes or no answer, while another is able to provide tiering information,” Culbertson said. “As more doctors using e-prescribing, it will force payers to provide better data.”
Last month, the state’s insurers announced plans to deploy a statewide multiple-payer electronic health record system, called the Availity Care Profile.
The 23 leading electronic prescribing vendors in the state also are participating.
“With all those forces and major players, it’s easier to get in front of physicians that this is not only the smart thing to do, but it’s the right thing to do,” Culbertson said.
He said ePrescribe Florida also is increasing outreach efforts to retail pharmacies to gain their participation.