Health Information Management

Topic: National e-prescribing conference sparks conversation on healthcare delivery improvement

HIM Connection, October 21, 2008

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More than 1,400 healthcare professionals and industry leaders convened earlier this month in Boston for a national e-prescribing conference. During the conference hosted by CMS and 34 cosponsors, participants discussed ways in which providers could use this new technological advancement to eliminate medical errors and improve overall healthcare delivery.

"Medicare is leading the way in implementing innovative technology solutions to deliver optimal health services for beneficiaries," said CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems in an October 7 CMS press release. "Widespread adoption of e-prescribing will mean a significant reduction in annual medication errors, improved efficiency and convenience, and will garner financial savings for both physicians and consumers."

The Institute of Medicine reported in 1996 that more than 1.5 million Americans, including an estimated 530,000 Medicare beneficiaries, are injured each year by drug errors. E-prescribing will help avoid these errors by abolishing illegible handwriting, promoting appropriate prescribing patterns, and facilitating communication between physician offices and pharmacies.

Physicians and other eligible professionals who are successful electronic subscribers will receive an incentive payment for participation between 2009 and 2013. Beginning in 2012, eligible professionals who are not successful e-prescribers will be subject to a penalty in the form of a percentage reduction in their Medicare physician fee schedule payment.

For more information on e-prescribing, click here. To view the conference presentation materials, click here.                                                                                                                                                                                                         



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