ePrescribing Legislation Introduced in the Senate
December 10, 2007
Senators John Kerry (D-MA), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), John Ensign (R-NV), John Sununu (R-NH) and Mel Martinez (R-FL) introduced a bill last week that would provide many healthcare providers with financial incentives for the use of ePrescribing systems in their offices. The Medicare Electronic Medication and Safety Protection Act, commonly known as "E-MEDS", would provide one-time bonuses to physicians to help offset the upfront costs associated with acquiring and implementing ePrescribing software. The bill would also provide an additional 1% bonus payment for all evaluation and management services delivered by a physician that utilizes an ePrescribing system at a mandatory minimum level.
Last year, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommended that all physicians begin using ePrescribing by 2010 to help reduce the estimated 1.5 million preventable medication errors that annually occur in the United States. Each year, roughly 7000 people die from medication errors, according to the IOM.
The bill would penalize any provider who does not adopt an ePrescribing system by 2011 through a ten percent reduction in reimbursement; however, the Secretary of HHS would have the ability to grant exemptions from this penalty if a provider is found to be financially unable to adopt such a system. Senator Stabenow has described this exemption as particularly helpful for small and rural physician practices.
Senators Kerry and Stabenow, at an event in Washington last week, disclosed that they are working with the Senate Finance Committee to attach a version of this bill to the expected year-end Medicare bill, which is currently being drafted. To read the entire bill, click here.
Staff from Senator Kerry's office and Senator Stabenow's office will join eHI's Policy Working Group call tomorrow, Tuesday December 11th to discuss the latest developments. The Policy Working Group is open to all eHealth Initiative members. A complete agenda can be accessed online by clicking here. For call-in information, please email Aaron.Holman@eHealthInitiative.org.
