E-Prescribing of Controlled Substances
Among other things, eprescribing technology allows practitioners to detect potentially harmful drug interactions, avoid misreading of handwritten prescriptions, permits generic alternatives to be readily identified, and allows for lower co-pays of medications due to health plan approval alerts.
So pronounced and obvious are these benefits that, on July 15, 2008 former President Bush signed into law the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA).
MIPPA provides bonus incentives to physicians who eprescribe for Medicare patients under Medicare Part D.
Providers who eprescribe will be eligible for a 2% bonus; practitioners who do not eprescribe will be penalized in 2012.
This new law is intended to quickly increase mass adoption of eprescribing nationwide.
In addition, President Barack Obama clearly supports health care reform by adding health IT to the economic stimulus package.
One of the final hurdles that must be eliminated to bring eprescribing to mass adoption by the physician community is working on a method to allow controlled drugs to be eprescribed.
Currently, controlled substances are not permitted to be transmitted via electronic means per U.
S.
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) regulations.
This has severely hampered the adoption of eprescribing, even for non-controlled medications, due to interruptions to physician work flow requiring the provider to print the prescription, then fax it or have the patient deliver a paper prescription to the pharmacy.
For Schedule II drugs, the most likely to be abused, paper prescriptions still must be hand-carried to the pharmacy.
This ban has resulted in a serious delay in adoption and realizing the full benefits of e-prescribing.
To advise the DEA, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) is working in conjunction with DrFirst, Inc.
on a project funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to study, develop and test a system for electronic prescribing of federally controlled substances in an ambulatory setting.
The goal is to advise the DEA of alternative secure delivery solutions so that wide-spread adoption of eprescribing will occur which will result in greater patient safety due to better medication management, decision support, improved clinician workflow, interaction checking resulting in the prevention of adverse drug events and reductions in non-medical use and abuse of controlled substances.
So pronounced and obvious are these benefits that, on July 15, 2008 former President Bush signed into law the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA).
MIPPA provides bonus incentives to physicians who eprescribe for Medicare patients under Medicare Part D.
Providers who eprescribe will be eligible for a 2% bonus; practitioners who do not eprescribe will be penalized in 2012.
This new law is intended to quickly increase mass adoption of eprescribing nationwide.
In addition, President Barack Obama clearly supports health care reform by adding health IT to the economic stimulus package.
One of the final hurdles that must be eliminated to bring eprescribing to mass adoption by the physician community is working on a method to allow controlled drugs to be eprescribed.
Currently, controlled substances are not permitted to be transmitted via electronic means per U.
S.
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) regulations.
This has severely hampered the adoption of eprescribing, even for non-controlled medications, due to interruptions to physician work flow requiring the provider to print the prescription, then fax it or have the patient deliver a paper prescription to the pharmacy.
For Schedule II drugs, the most likely to be abused, paper prescriptions still must be hand-carried to the pharmacy.
This ban has resulted in a serious delay in adoption and realizing the full benefits of e-prescribing.
To advise the DEA, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) is working in conjunction with DrFirst, Inc.
on a project funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to study, develop and test a system for electronic prescribing of federally controlled substances in an ambulatory setting.
The goal is to advise the DEA of alternative secure delivery solutions so that wide-spread adoption of eprescribing will occur which will result in greater patient safety due to better medication management, decision support, improved clinician workflow, interaction checking resulting in the prevention of adverse drug events and reductions in non-medical use and abuse of controlled substances.
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