CMS Officials Encourage Adoption of Electronic Prescribing Technology at Boston Conference
CMS officials appealed to more than 1,400 health care industry officials and professionals on Tuesday at the agency-sponsored National E-prescribing Conference in Boston to adopt electronic prescribing technology as a way to improve the U.S. health care system, the Boston Herald reports.Health Evolution Partners Chair David Brailer said he believes the medical community will be divided in their response to a federal e-prescribing incentive program scheduled to begin Jan. 1, which was included in the recently passed Medicare law (McConville, Boston Herald, 10/8). Under the law, physicians who adopt e-prescribing technology in 2009 and 2010 will receive a 2% bonus in their Medicare payments; those who use the technology in 2011 and 2012 will receive a 1% bonus; and those who use it in 2013 will receive a 0.5% bonus. Medicare payments for physicians who do not use the technology will be reduced by 1% in 2012, 1.5% in 2013 and 2% in 2014. Some health care providers will be exempt from the requirements (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 7/22). "Some doctors have been doing it for 10-plus years, and some will continue to resist it," Brailer said.
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said, "We need the health care system to get better, and e-prescribing is the next logical step." CMS acting Administrator Kerry Weems said the government has yet to determine a preferred e-prescribing vendor. Weems said, "We've kept it vendor-neutral," adding, "We said, 'Let's have standards and let the market dictate who meets them'" (Boston Herald, 10/8). This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
