Cash for Electronic Prescriptions

We have been hearing a lot about computerized electronic prescriptions lately.  The old joke about doctors’ handwriting seems to be true in many cases, and unfortunately, in too many situations, pharmacists can’t decipher the scribble and end up dispensing the wrong medication to patients.  This is never a good thing, and though in many cases, the patient catches the mistake or the medication is not harmful to the patient, in a lot of cases the medication is not only harmful but fatal.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have been trying to get doctors to switch to electronic prescriptions to eliminate the high number of problems with prescription errors due to handwriting, but so far many doctors have been resistant.  CMS has offered some bonuses if the doctors will at least give it a try, but there hasn’t been much acceptance of the idea.

Some doctors worry that all the software available to the pharmacies and the physicians will not be compatible, leading to other problems in addition to the handwriting issue.  CMS says that Medicare expenses are increasing (as we all know), and that these mistakes due to handwriting issues are increasing expenses even more – especially when the wrong prescription has to be thrown away and a new one has to be filled. 

CMS has gotten very serious about making the change to electronic prescriptions.  They are offering cash back to the doctors who make the change and are error free.  In order to get doctors to switch, which CMS says will make the system better, safer, more effective and efficient and more cost effective, doctors who go electronic will receive a 2% increase in their Medicare payments in 2009 and 2010 and a 1% increase in 2011 and 2012. 

Only about 2% of all prescriptions are filled electronically every year.  Because this number is so small and most of the rest of the prescriptions are handwritten, over 1.5 million patients – over 530,000 Medicare recipients – are harmed every year due to prescription mistakes.  The Pharmacy Board has investigated thousands of prescriptions at random and found that there were high percentages of errors involving the type of medication prescribed, the dosage and wrong or incomplete directions.

At present, the Pharmacy Board is working on 48 different prescription programs.  They are working with pharmacies and physicians to work out compatibility issues.  In the meantime, if you can get your doctor to at least give you your prescriptions typed into his computer and printed out; there will be less room for error.  CMS hopes to begin the electronic program by the end of this year.

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