Source: The Wall Street Journal
The number of U.S. physicians and other medical professionals prescribing electronically is expected to more than double this year, enticed by higher Medicare payments tied to the technology's use.
There's still a long way to go, however, before all physicians scrap pen and paper in favor of e-prescriptions. As of today 143,000 - or one in four physicians and other prescribers who are office based - are e-prescribing, up from 74,000 in 2008. Through the end of August, 110 million of the more than 3.7 billion prescriptions dispensed annually by U.S. retail pharmacies were sent electronically, according to data released Monday by Surescripts, the private company that runs the network that routes prescriptions between physicians and pharmacies. About 85% of U.S. pharmacies are in the network.
In January, Medicare began paying physicians a bonus if they switched their patients over to e-prescribing. The bonus amounts to 2% of charges billed to Medicare for 2009 and 2010, 1% in 2011 and 2012 and 0.5% in 2013, the program's last year.
"There's no question that the federal incentives are working," Harry Totonis, president and chief executive of Surescripts, said of the growth in the adoption of e-prescribing technology.
A growing number of private insurers are also offering financial incentives to physicians who use e-prescribing and are offering subsidies to help defray the technology's costs.
E-prescribing allows physicians to transmit prescriptions through a secure Internet network directly to the pharmacy of the patient's choice before they leave the doctor's office. By using the technology, physicians can save patients money as well as time. The computer programs can flag cheaper generic alternatives to brand-name drugs and with the most sophisticated types of software physicians can prescribe based on the drugs covered under a patient's health plan. The digital technology can also alert physicians to potentially harmful drug interactions or allergies, and for pharmacists, remove the guesswork associated with deciphering nearly illegible handwriting.
The U.S. government's economic stimulus bill provides about $19 billion in funds to help hospitals, doctors and other health-care providers computerize medical records and is expected to include incentives for e-prescribing.
Physicians who don't e-prescribe will have their Medicare reimbursements cut by 1% starting in 2012, rising to 1.5% in 2013 and by 2% in 2014 and beyond.
But obstacles remain that hinder widespread adoption of e-prescribing. For one, the Drug Enforcement Agency, part of the Department of Justice, prohibits controlled substances, such as medications used to treat insomnia, acute pain, ADHD and anxiety, from being prescribed electronically. Around 13% of prescriptions are for controlled substances, according to estimates from the National Association of Drug Stores. Last year, the DEA came out with a proposal that would put in place safety and security controls, but it's a work in progress without a clear timeframe as yet.