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E-Prescribing Incentives Part of Medicare Bill
The U.S. Senate recently passed an important bill, the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (H.R. 6331), which halted the July 1 physician pay cut under Medicare for the rest of 2008 and provided a 1.1-percent pay increase for 2009.
A key component of this bill is the introduction of incentives encouraging prescribers to adopt e-prescribing technology. H.R. 6331 will provide positive Medicare payment incentives of up to 2% for physicians who use qualified e-prescribing systems in 2009 through 2013, and a reduction in payments of up to 2% to physicians and other providers who fail to e-prescribe by 2012.
Below are grids that show the Medicare payment incentives timeline, as well as the reduction timeline.
E-Prescribing Incentive Timeline
2009-2010 2% bonus
2011-2012 1% bonus
2013 .5% bonus
2014 and beyond no bonus
No E-Prescribing Penalties Timeline
2012 1% penalty
2013 1.5% penalty
2014 and beyond 2% penalty
These incentives underline the importance being placed on e-prescribing technology to improve the safety and accuracy of the prescribing process, and to improve the efficiency of practice operations.
According to American Medical News, “Under the new Medicare law, CMS will drop e-prescribing use from the list of PQRI measures. The quality reporting program will run all of next year, and Congress boosted the possible bonus to 2%. So in 2009, physicians could receive the additional 2% for e-prescribing under the new Medicare law and another 2% for reporting quality measures under PQRI.”
To begin realizing these benefits as quickly as possible, TMA encourages members to visit www.GetRxConnected.com/TMA. There, physicians will find information and guidance on how to “Get Connected” for e-prescribing.
Resources found at www.GetRxConnected.com/TMA are equally important for physicians who have not yet taken steps to acquire e-prescribing technology, and for those who already may be using an electronic medical record (EMR) or e-prescribing system but have not yet established an electronic connection to pharmacies.
More than 150,000 physicians across the country use systems that can transmit prescriptions electronically, but many physicians do not know they have this capability. A free E-Prescribing Readiness Report at www.GetRxConnected.com/TMA can confirm whether or not your technology can transmit prescriptions in this way.
To learn more about e-prescribing and the GetRxConnected campaign, contact the TMA Health Information Technology Helpline at (800) 880-5720 or e-mail HIT@texmed.org.
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