CMS Proposes E-Prescribing Standards For Medicare; Lobbies Push For Mandate

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 19 Nov 2007 - 11:00 PDT

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CMS will propose electronic prescribing standards for Medicare beneficiaries, prompting advocates for organizations that provide and manage drug benefits to call for an "e-prescribing" requirement for the program, CQ HealthBeat reports. The standards, to be published soon in the Federal Register, aim to increase the use of handheld and other e-prescribing devices that allow physicians to check beneficiaries' medication history, prescription drug coverage and formularies.

The standards would be added to another set that took effect in January 2006. HHS in a release announcing the proposal said that e-prescribing could reduce some 530,000 "adverse events" that occur annually in Medicare and that the practice will save money by alerting physicians to lower-cost generic versions of drugs. In addition, HHS officials said adoption of e-prescribing will pave the way for other health information technology.

Medicare does not mandate that physicians use e-prescribing; only that providers of the drug benefit must support e-prescribing and abide by the standards. The BlueCross and BlueShield Association and the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association on Wednesday issued statements saying that CMS should make e-prescribing mandatory for Medicare. BCBS President Scott Serota said, "Seniors and disabled beneficiaries deserve to be protected from avoidable medication errors -- and the solution starts with requiring e-prescribing in Medicare."

Acting CMS Administrator Kerry Weems said that he does not support an e-prescribing mandate, adding, "I'm not yet to the point where we're going to use the payment system to coerce it." Weems in September said that e-prescribing technology is not at a point where a mandate makes sense. However, he said that developing standards for e-prescribing is "one of the key action items in the federal government's effort to build a nationwide, interoperable electronic health information infrastructure" (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 11/15).

Opinion Piece
While lawmakers "continue to debate how to cover the uninsured, improve quality and lower costs, there is too little being done to modernize health care," Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Newt Gingrich (R), former speaker of the House and founder of the Center for Health Transformation, write in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece.

They continue, "E-prescribing for Medicare is just the beginning of the modernization and digitization our ailing health care system urgently needs," adding, "A high-tech, healthier future is within our grasp." According to Kerry and Gingrich, the U.S. has "talked long enough about using technology to cut costs and improve the quality of care. Now is the time to act," concluding, "We just need creative leadership bold enough to reach for it" (Kerry/Gingrich, Wall Street Journal, 11/16).

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