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Upcoming changes to Medicare regulations may impact the way you prescribe for patients covered by the Medicare Part D program. Will you be in compliance?
As of Jan. 1, 2009, all computer-generated prescriptions for Medicare Part D patients must comply with the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs script standard and be transmitted electronically and not by computer-generated fax. If not, prescriptions must be printed and manually faxed, or handwritten.
Many times, users of electronic medical records (EMRs) don't know they are generating faxes that arrive on paper at the pharmacy's fax machine. These computer-generated, faxed prescriptions will not comply with the new regulations.
SureScripts' Get Connected Campaign
TMA is participating in the SureScripts' Get Connected Campaign to draw attention to changes to the Medicare Modernization Act Part D regulations that could impact the way you prescribe. The campaign is geared toward educating patients and physicians about e-prescribing. You can test your connectivity, learn about e-prescribing's return on investment, and find out what it takes to connect to pharmacies by taking SureScripts' E-Prescribing Readiness Assessment. A visit to this site is worthwhile whether you use an EMR system or are looking for guidance on how to acquire e-prescribing technology. An electronic connection to pharmacies can improve your practice's efficiency and the quality of your patients' prescription information.
Connectivity can allow your practice to establish a two-way electronic connection with pharmacies in your area. Pharmacies can send requests for prescription renewals to your practice computer and reduce the volume of requests that practice staff manage each day.
Benefits
A visit to www.GetRxConnected.com/TMA gives you more detail on these benefits and other valuable information, including:
- Information on the benefits of e-prescribing/pharmacy connectivity;
- An estimate of the value of the time your practice spends annually managing prescription renewal requests by phone or fax;
- A list of pharmacies in your area that can exchange prescription information with your practice electronically, and
- The value of e-prescribing for your patients.
Barriers
- Not all pharmacies are connected for e-prescribing. According to SureScripts, about 95 percent of chain pharmacies and 27 percent of independent pharmacies are e-prescribing capable.
- Prescriptions for controlled substances, which account for 20 percent of prescriptions, cannot be sent electronically. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is working with Congress to remove this barrier.
- In Texas, if a physician stipulates "brand necessary" on an electronic prescription, he or she must follow up with a signed hard-copy prescription within 30 days. If not, the patient could receive a generic substitution upon refill.
SureScripts is not a vendor with a product, but rather an entity created by chain pharmacies to facilitate connectivity between physician offices and pharmacies. SureScripts operates the Pharmacy Health Information Exchange, which certifies e-prescribing tools.
To obtain more information, read the TMA article geared toward patients and physicians.
For more information, call TMA's Department of Health Information Technology at (800) 880-5720; e-mail Health Information Technology; or go to the Health Information Technology page of the TMA Web site.
Action, July 1, 2008
Last Published: 11/14/2008 Print this page
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