E-Prescriptions May Come To Neighborhood Pharmacies

The federal government continues to ramp up efforts to promote greater utilization of health IT by medical professionals. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that the development of guideline for electronic prescriptions will be intended for use in the Medicare program.

“E-prescribing can improve quality of care by reducing errors, and can also help save the Medicare program money and the beneficiary from paying higher out-of-pocket costs,” CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems said. “Developing the standards that will facilitate e-prescribing is one of the key action items in the federal government’s effort to build a nationwide, interoperable electronic health information infrastructure in the United States.”

In addition to curbing the number of negative prescription drug reactions each year, supporters say the technology would indicate which drugs are covered by a Medicare patient’s plan and whether or not a lower-cost alternative is available.

The guidelines will supplement a current list, adopted early last year, which regulates the protocol for filling and processing prescriptions. While e-prescriptions are not mandated, certain health plans including Medicare require some systems to have the ability to do so, as part of a larger effort to promote the use of health IT among physicians, hospitals and other providers.

Though a priority of Bush Administration and supported in Congress by both sides of the aisle, the adoption of health IT within the medical community has been slow due to compliance costs and other factors.

More information about e-prescribing and the new guidelines proposed by CMS can be found at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/EPrescribing/.