According to SureScripts, 76.5 percent of patients pick up their medication when the prescription is sent electronically. Only 69.5 percent of patients pick up their medication when a written prescription has been handed over to the patient. With electronic prescribing, a patient only has to make one trip to the pharmacy. There is no need to carry a prescription with you, thus reducing the chance of misplacing the script. Electronic Prescriptions encourage patients to visit the pharmacy after leaving the doctor’s office more so than if having the prescription in hand.
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Archive for the ‘E-Prescribing’ Category
Another Medicare Deadline for E-Prescribing Around the Corner!
E-prescribing is becoming more and more widespread as the need for the adoption of Health Information Technology becomes more and more apparent across the nation. Having said that, another Medicare deadline is around the corner! Clinicians must have already or plan to e-prescribe 25 prescriptions by December 31st, 2011 in order to gain a 1% incentive payment check in the fall of 2012. They will also avoid the 1.5% payment reduction in 2013 if they get this incentive in 2012 because they become “incentive” eligible. Writing those 25 e-scripts with a qualified, stand-alone or integrated e-prescription software by December 31st, 2011 is the only way to avoid a penalty in 2013 because it’s too late to have avoided the 1% penalty which required providers send 10 electronic prescriptions by June 30, 2011. It is not too late to take advantage of Medicare’s e-prescribing program and gain a 1% payment on your Medicare reimbursement. Start e-prescribing today!
A Friendly Reminder Regarding MIPPA Reporting Deadline
In an effort to help physicians meet the Medicare e-prescribing incentive program (MIPPA) reporting requirements, we would like to remind all participants that in order to avoid the 1% penalty on your 2012 Medicare Part B reimbursements:
- Enter at least 10 eRx G-codes (G8553) on eligible claims with dates of service between January 1, 2011 and June 30, 2011.
- Submit all claims by July 31st, 2011. We would suggest submitting claims by July 29th as July 30 and 31st fall on the weekend.
If you have additional questions, please refer to the CMS website or you may also contact us at (909) 466-1605.
OA Systems Gets Ohio Pharmacy Board Approval
RxCure,™ our electronic prescription solution has received approval with the Ohio State Pharmacy Board today. This is a great opportunity for physicians practicing in Ohio to have access to RxCure™. 
With RxCure,™ Ohio physicians can now experience the benefits of electronic prescribing. Much time is spent on the phone or sending faxes to pharmacies in the traditional prescription writing process. By submitting prescriptions electronically through RxCure,™ this time can be better used for more important things, such as attending to patients. The efficiency of the office will improve if doctors and office staff can cater to more patients, which in turn will bring in more revenue to the practice.
Using RxCure™ allows Ohio’s physicians to transform their practice at the click of a button by improving workflow and thus increasing income, while creating an environment that fosters optimum patient care. In addition, RxCure™ will qualify physicians for the 2% Medicare bonus! For more information on the Medicare incentives program, go to the CMS eRX site.
New York State Medicaid Offers Incentive For E-Prescribing
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.
National Community Pharmacists Association Says E-prescribing is a Big HIT
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!
Cornell Study Proves the Advantage of e-Prescribing in Reducing Errors
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”! 
