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Today is an unprecedented day and will be known in history for a monumental achievement. People will look back at Tuesday July 13, 2010 as a day which started an electronic revolution of sorts. Today marked the release of what thousands around the nation were eagerly waiting for: the final rule on certification criteria for electronic health records (EHR), better known as “meaningful use.”
We at OA Systems would like to applaud HHS and ONC for the publication of the final rule. Meaningful use will have a major impact on the health IT industry for years to come and thus is a key step in the right direction towards improving our healthcare system. We are still in the process of reading through the final rule, all 864 pages of it, so we will respond with more details as we discern them.
On the e-prescribing front, one thing is for sure: Dr. David Blumenthal, the national coordinator for health IT at ONC said in this morning’s briefing that the new rule has relaxed the amount of prescriptions that must be sent electronically. Instead of the proposed interim guidelines which suggested that seventy-five percent of all prescriptions be sent electronically in order to qualify for meaningful use; that number has now been decreased to forty percent.
Let the electronic revolution begin!
Tags: ARRA, EHR, Health IT, HHS, HITECH, meaningful use, ONC
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The AMA said one-fifth of all claims in the country are mishandled. Begun in 2008, the association’s annual “National Health Insurer Report Card” rated the nation’s eight largest health insurers in how they handle claims. They concluded that if all problems were resolved the system would save $15.5 billion annually in administrative costs. Now that’s a huge amount of savings for our nation’s health system! Doctors have long complained about excessive paperwork required to satisfy insurance companies. Former AMA President Dr. Nancy Nielsen says that, “Each insurer uses different rules for processing and paying medical claims, which cause complexity, confusion, and waste.”
With such a problem affecting prescribers, patients, and payers, it is only natural that the use of electronic claims processing software by prescribers will aid in reducing the plethora of inefficiencies that currently exist. Dr. Nielsen further said that, “Simplifying the administrative process with standardized requirements will reduce unnecessary costs in the health system” that often requires doctors to file different forms to each insurer. We know prescribers can adopt the necessary software and utilize clearinghouses to facilitate the claims process but payers must also meet the prescribers half way by adopting efficiencies within their processes.
Source: MSNBC
Tags: ama, american medical association, electronic billing, healthcare
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| As you may have noticed, on June 1st the DEA recently made effective the electronic prescribing of controlled substances. This is great news for the entire Health IT industry and OA Systems applauds the DEA for taking these much anticipated steps. This will definitely help overcome one of the major hurdles for e-prescribing. However, because of the complexity of the criteria set forth by the DEA for certification of both prescriber and pharmacy applications, it may take a while before the industry actually sees the electronic transmission of controlled substances.
We at OA Systems are currently exploring what needs to be altered in RxCure, our patented e-prescribing software, in order to allow for the electronic transmission of controlled substances.
Because these changes may take some time, we cannot determine when you will be able to prescribe controlled substances electronically through RxCure. However, we will keep you updated through our communication streams such as our newsletter and blog.
Thank You for your understanding. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
For further information, please see FAQs from the DEA and Surescripts Statement on DEA Interim Final Rule. |
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Tags: Controlled Substances, DEA, E-Prescribing, electronic prescribing, electronic prescription
Posted in Controlled Substances | 2 Comments »
 The New York State Medicaid has rolled out its electronic prescribing incentive program this month.
While the HITECH ACT is taking shape, New York wants to accelerate the adoption of technology in healthcare. Isn’t it nice to have forward thinking states such as New York?
This incentive program offers Medicaid prescribers $0.80 per dispensed ambulatory Medicaid e-prescription. In addition, pharmacies are going to benefit financially by receiving $0.20 per dispensed ambulatory Medicaid e-prescription. Any enrolled physician (MD, DO), Dentist, NP, Podiatrist, Optometrist, and licensed Midwife is eligible. Furthermore, this program is going to promote patient medication adherence, because the incentive is payable when the prescription is dispensed to the beneficiary. All prescriber incentives are going to be bundled into quarterly payments.
This program should encourage other states (California, I can’t see you!) to promote healthcare technology as New York is certainly doing its part in promoting the early adoption of technology in healthcare.
Source PDF.
Tags: E-Prescribing, electronic prescribing, healthcare, HITECH, incentives, Medicaid, technology
Posted in E-Prescribing | 2 Comments »
The executive VP and CEO of the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) says that, “pharmacists have a vested interest in making e-prescribing work because computerized prescription information potentially provides more accurate and faster transmittal to pharmacists than written prescriptions do”. We here at OA Systems agree!
Bruce Roberts made his comments at the Health Information Technology (HIT) Policy Committee Information Exchange Workgroup hearing earlier this year.
Also at the hearing, the NCPA summarized the advantages of e-prescribing for pharmacists. It noted that there was by and large “positive acceptance” and “improvement in work flow” for the pharmacists who were familiar with e-prescribing.
Of course, as with implementing any new technology, there are challenges – especially for community pharmacies. But the NCPA says it believes the independent pharmacy community is geared up to tackle the obstacles they’ve outlined “so that we can all accelerate the development of a robust system of e-prescribing.”
According to Surescripts, around 18 percent of prescriptions were sent electronically in 2009. This was almost three times more than the amount sent electronically in 2008!
About 85 percent of community pharmacies are connected and ready to receive those electronic prescriptions. However, only 25 percent of all clinic-based physicians are now e-prescribing. So it looks like the pharmacies have more technical capacity to effect change in the e-prescribing world. But we should look at the bright side and see the amount of potential for growth. The bottom line is that there are a lot more physicians who need to start e-prescribing!
Tags: E-Prescribing, electronic prescription, ncpa, prescription software
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A lot of times we come across doctors who are interested in e-prescribing but when they explore the technology in depth to find a comfortable fit, some find out that they are unable to prescribe scheduled drugs through any of the e-prescribing solutions.
Federal and state governments as well as the private sector are investing tens of billions of dollars to push e-prescribing and EHR technologies past the tipping point. With so much momentum building towards e-prescribing and EHR, the DEA will finally allow doctors to prescribe scheduled drugs electronically this summer.
What will this mean for doctors? A lot of practitioners from psychiatrists to pain management doctors will now gush towards embracing e-prescribing which will help the health IT industry move closer to the tipping point.
Tags: Controlled Substances, DEA, E-Prescribing, electronic billing, electronic prescribing, electronic prescription, prescription software
Posted in Controlled Substances, DEA, E-Prescribing | 1 Comment »
According to a recent study by Cornell University’s school of medicine, an estimated 2.6 billion drugs are provided, prescribed or continued in the ambulatory setting. More importantly, the study found that health care providers using an electronic system to write prescriptions were seven times less likely to make errors than those writing their prescriptions by hand. None of us here at OA Systems went to Cornell, so you do the math!
So, should doctors around the country use e-prescribing to decrease prescription errors? We think so and are adding our two-handed shove to the current strong push to encourage doctors to e-prescribe.
Examples of the types of errors found in the study include incomplete directions and prescribing a medication but omitting the quantity. Not seriously harmful mistakes, but resulting in lots of lost time for doctors, patients, and pharmacists from the resulting callbacks. None of us here at OA Systems went to Cornell, but we can tell you that lots of lost time equals lots of unhappy people.
“It is important that physicians know how technology like electronic prescribing systems can improve the safety and value of care they give [their] patients” and “it is also important that electronic prescribing systems are easy for health care providers to use, fit well into their workflow, and that providers have technical assistance to help them install and maintain these systems”. That’s what Dr. Rainu Kaushal, the head of pediatric quality and safety for the Komansky Center for Children’s Health at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, says. Smart folks, these Cornell people!
As you can see, in order to be beneficial, e-prescribing should be easy for health care providers to use and fit well into their workflow. These are important things to look at when selecting an e-prescribing solution. Physicians should make change a positive thing for their practices. And here’s one added perk of e-prescribing that even the folks at Cornell probably didn’t think of: you’ll never again be accused of having a “doctor’s handwriting”! 
Tags: E-Prescribing, electronic prescription, prescription software
Posted in E-Prescribing | 3 Comments »
While discussing billing software issues with one of our clients, I was able to get his perspective on including billing in meaningful use (MU) rules for EHR implementation. I feel that his support of the benefits of the integration of billing in the MU rules of EHR hit the nail on the head.
We agreed that a continuous stream of revenue is one of the most important factors for Independent Physician Associations (IPA) and small practices to sustain their medical practices and provide optimum medical services. The benefits of the integration of billing in the MU rules of EHR would be great. This may improve medical claims preparation by automatically populating patient diagnosis and services codes in a claim form. Now it takes a click of a mouse to send the bill electronically to the designated payers.
It would also be easier to retrieve patient medical records to work with rejected claims. Accurate and timely claims preparation and submission expedite claims processing and reimbursements for doctors. The best part is that the CMS EHR reporting requirements to qualify for the ARRA incentives will also be met through an integrated EHR! I’m sure those who read that last sentence are very excited! If one of our clients feels this way, I am sure many more of you are thinking the same way.
This sounds great for IPAs and small practices, but does it seem practical given the workflow of supporting staff in clinical settings? How can we address the challenges of training support staff without impeding the workflow of a clinic?
We want to hear some of your experiences and challenges in implementing healthcare technologies that range from electronic prescribing to electronic medical records.
Tags: electronic billing
Posted in Billing, EHR | 9 Comments »
Preferred Level Drugs come in various levels. Preferred Level 1 is usually the best option for a patient because the co-pay is usually the lowest. The higher you go on the tiers, the more expensive it usually gets.
Within RxCure, the green star symbol indicates the drug is on the patients formulary whereas the yellow star indicates that the drug is on the patients formulary, but is not preferred. The red hand symbol indicates its not on the patients formulary.
http://healthinsurance.about.com/od/prescriptiondrugs/a/understanding_formulary.htm
This link provides detailed information on preferred or tiered drug levels and formulary information.
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I cannot believe this news!! It took a long time, but the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will finally allow prescribers to send electronic prescriptions for controlled substances.
According to a document released on March 24th entitled Interim Final Rule on Electronic Prescriptions for Controlled Substances, they acknowledge the positive impact this will have on the Health IT industry in terms of providing doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies more flexibility and options when e-prescribing.
It won’t take effect for a couple of months but hey, if we can wait for years, we can afford to wait just a little bit longer. We here at OA Systems Inc. will have the time to enable RxCure to accommodate this change once it does go into full effect!
Tags: Controlled Substances, DEA, E-Prescribing, electronic prescription, prescription software
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