WASHINGTON – Payers are supporting Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt’s call for large payers, including Medicare and Medicaid, to mandate e-prescribing.
Payers say current technology can support the call and a mandate would drive adoption of other important healthcare IT such as electronic health records.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts is urging Congress to require physicians – with exceptions for certain small providers – to use e-prescribing in Medicare by 2010. “Many IT experts believe that once physicians become familiar with the ease and benefits of e-prescribing, it will serve as a stepping stone to adoption of EHRs,” said Steve Fox, vice president of provider network management.
Pilots can serve to verify that the technology is integrated with practice workflow and revise deployment and training methods. “We have compiled an extensive ‘lessons learned’ document and can use that as a blueprint to a wider deployment within the provider network,” said Fox.
“Because e-prescribing is so important for improving patient safety and quality of care, WellPoint supports the AHIC recommendation to mandate e-prescribing for Medicare providers,” said Charles Kennedy, MD, vice president of health IT.
Kennedy said all-electronic physician offices reap value from health IT and e-prescribing is a “lower-cost, high-value step” toward full health IT deployment.
“A mandate for Medicare providers can help bring about significant adoption sooner,” he said. “Additional work should continue to be performed to optimize e-prescribing workflows in physician offices and to improve receptivity of this technology among physicians.”
With WellPoint supporting the National ePrescribing Patient Safety Initiative, or NEPSI, Kennedy said the payer has a solution available now that would allow all of its network physicians to be compliant with a mandate with little cost to them.
Furthermore, a mandate is “achievable today,” he said, because the tools exist.
With Cigna’s numerous e-prescribing partnerships, spokesperson Dan Carmody said the payer is “well positioned to embrace” federal requirements that payers with Medicare Part D plans accept e-prescriptions.
“E-prescribing is still quite early in the evolution of the concept and technology, and is not yet widespread enough to make this realistic,” he admitted. “Before any mandates are issued there needs to be a full vetting of each party’s role in the e-prescription process so that there is accountability, including a sustainable business model.”
Terry Shea, director of BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee’s pharmacy services, added, “We believe strongly with the IOM and Secretary Leavitt that e-prescribing is one small step towards the elimination of medical errors. And we will continue to encourage its use among our network providers.”