Monday, February 6, 2012
New White Paper Analyzes Landscape for Prior Authorization for Medications
The increased use of prior authorization (PA) for medications is one of the trends for 2012 that Point of Care Partners (POCP) will be tracking. We also strongly believe that savvy stakeholders should be preparing to embrace electronic prior authorization (ePA) for medications, a standardized electronic process in which real-time decisions on PA requests are provided at the point of prescribing.
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Written by: Tony Schueth, MS on Monday, February 6, 2012. Monday, January 23, 2012
AMA Releases a New Set of Free Online Tutorials on ePrescribing
The American Medical Association has reaffirmed its commitment to informing the medical community on the benefits of healthcare information technology (HIT), particularly ePrescribing, in this latest set of free online tutorials. This educational module includes three topics, ePrescribing, pre-visit planning and point-of-care documentation. Continue reading →
Written by: Claire Roebuck on Monday, January 23, 2012. Thursday, January 12, 2012
ePrescribing May be Harmed by Unreliable Information
While the positive aspects of ePrescribing are numerous, flaws in two key sets of data — formulary and benefits and medication history — undermines the quality and safety benefits. To realize ePrescribing’s full potential, the industry must address these shortcomings. Continue reading →
Written by: Tony Schueth, MS on Thursday, January 12, 2012. Thursday, December 8, 2011
New Study Finds Major Challenges with ePrescription Renewals and ePrescribing at Mail-order Pharmacies
A just-published study from the Center for Studying Health System Change identifies new challenges to the ePrescribing process: eRenewals and pharmacy processing of ePrescriptions, especially for those going to mail-order pharmacies. The good news-bad news findings are that physician practices and pharmacies are generally statisfied with the electronic transmission of new prescriptions, the rewewal process was used inconsistently, there were some issues with prescriptions being transmitted electronically to mail order and pharmacy data is still being hand-entered. Continue reading →
Written by: Mihir H. Patel, PharmD on Thursday, December 8, 2011. Thursday, September 8, 2011
Fewer Physicians May Get Medicare Payments Dinged in CMS’ ePrescribing Program
CMS just published a slim final rule that modifies its ePrescribing incentive program by adding new hardship exemption categories for the 2012 ePrescribing payment adjustment. Essentially, an estimated 200,000+ physicians Medicare payments will not be reduced due to their inability… Continue Reading
Written by: Mihir H. Patel, PharmD on Thursday, September 8, 2011. Friday, August 12, 2011
Why Should Health Plans Care About Medication Reconciliation?
A few months ago, we wrote a blog on the Value of Medication Reconciliation (MedRec) to PBMs, and yet, we still continue to get questions from payer clients as to what… Continue Reading
Written by: Mihir H. Patel, PharmD on Friday, August 12, 2011. Monday, August 8, 2011
What About Those ePrescribing Penalties?
Some professionals just don’t want to change the way they do things, even if it makes sense from a business, clinical and patient quality standpoint. Federal incentives and penalties are designed to spur these laggards to step up. But physician organizations are listening to the vocal minority of its members. We hope they’re unsuccessful. Continue reading →
Written by: Tony Schueth, MS on Monday, August 8, 2011. Friday, July 15, 2011
Documenting Bad Encounters of the ePrescribing Kind
One of our clients reminded us the other day about the relaunch last fall of the Web portal belonging to the Alliance for Patient Medication Safety (APMS), which will help pharmacies document their encounters with ePrescribing and provide feedback to… Continue Reading
Written by: Mihir H. Patel, PharmD on Friday, July 15, 2011. Thursday, June 23, 2011
Taking the STEAM out of ePrescribing?
The Stripping The E-prescribe Arbitrary Mandates (STEAM) Act attempts to remove ePrescribing requirements from meaningful use. We think that’s a really bad idea. We see ePrescribing as mature and providing a demonstrated ROI for physicians offices. ePrescribing has also been proven to save lives, improve safety and reduce costs. What’s not to like? The “late adopters” and “laggards” need to get on-board and see the positive impact from ePrescribing. Continue reading →
Written by: Tony Schueth, MS on Thursday, June 23, 2011.
Not so Fast, PCAST!
The recommendations of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), a high-level federal advisory group, sent shock waves through the industry last December. Specifically, they offered a new “universal data exchange language” to support interoperable “tagged data elements” and Data Element Access Services (DEAS)—a mechanism to index, search and access health information across the universe of systems where such information resides. Bold and transformative as it was, as the industry evaluates the recommendations, more and more concerns emerge. The most recent is from NCVHS, a high-level advisory panel for HHS.
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Written by: Tony Schueth, MS on Thursday, June 23, 2011.
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