Featuring posts written by the DoseSpot e-Prescribing Integration Team!

E-Prescribing 101

Posted: March 17th, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Basics | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »
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Electronic prescribing is not just the ability to send prescriptions electronically to pharmacies. E-Prescribing can also increase care quality in a number of ways:

  • E-prescribing makes sure that the prescriber is providing enough specific information for the pharmacist to fill the prescription, including the name of the drug, the dosage, its physical form, the route, and the physician’s instructions.
  • Electronic prescribing software eliminates the time and effort of trying to understand the prescriber’s handwriting, as well as the chance of an error in that translation.
  • E-prescribing significantly reduces the chance that the prescriber’s intentions are misinterpreted.
  • E-prescribing is often used in conjuction with clinical decision support to ensure that any drug to drug interactions or drug to diagnosis issues are found and reported to the physician before the prescription order is completed.

Electronic prescribing is considered one of the most important areas of Healthcare IT, which is why Medicare created payment incentives for physicians who use a qualified e-prescribing system. In 2009, the incentives are an increase of 2% in revenue for each patient when e-prescribing is used. Due to the 2009 HITECH Act, electronic prescribing is required as part of any EMR (EHR) which qualifies for Medicare reimbursement in 2011.

4 Comments on “E-Prescribing 101”

  1. 1 Rodney Hornbake said at 3:20 am on June 5th, 2009:

    I went looking for a blog on e-prescribing and found yours. But the print is so small in my browser window that I cannot read what you have written.

    Is there an adjustment in Internet Explorer that will fix this?

  2. 2 George Getty III said at 11:51 am on June 10th, 2009:

    Hi Dr. Hornbake,
    I’ll work on getting a better theme going that reads more easily. Until then, you can go to View->Text Size -> Larger and that may help.
    Thanks,
    George

  3. 3 Robin Foster said at 12:03 pm on August 18th, 2009:

    Hi George,

    I am wondering, would the 2% Medicare reimbursement apply to physician practices that only have a certain percentage of Medicare allowables? I am working with a pediatrician that has a large practice that hardly has any Medicare patients.

    Thanks,

    Robin Foster

  4. 4 George Getty III said at 6:13 am on August 19th, 2009:

    Hi Robin,

    From what I understand, the reimbursement will be a 2% bonus on all medicare reimbursements to a practice. It doesn’t matter what the percentage of Medicare allowables is. It is more a value assessment made by the practice. You would need to ask, “Is a 2% bonus worth the cost of integration.” Another thing to think about is that private insurers may follow suit with similar incentives.

    Hope that answers your question.

    Thanks,
    George

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