ACOG Supports Effort to Encourage Electronic Prescribing

Practice Management and Managed Care

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ACOG Supports Effort to Encourage Electronic Prescribing

As of January 1, 2009 all computer generated prescriptions for Medicare Part D patients must comply with the NCPDP script standard and thus be transmitted electronically and not by computer-generated fax. If not, prescriptions must be printed and then manually faxed – a time consuming process. The Medicaid requirement for using tamper resistant prescription pads, effective October 1, 2008, also allows an exception for electronic prescribing. It is likely that other state and national regulations will soon require or encourage electronic prescribing.

More importantly to most ob/gyns, an electronic connection with pharmacies can improve the efficiency of a practice and the overall quality of a patient’s prescription information, improving patient care.

With this in mind, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is collaborating with the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Cardiology, the Medical Group Management Association and several other medical organizations to launch a nationwide program to assist physician practices with electronic subscribing, called the Get Connected program. The heart of the program is the www.GetRxConnected.com web portal, which helps assess a practice’s readiness for electronic prescribing, and guides users through the steps that they need to take to use e-prescribing.

Many EMR users are unaware that they are generating faxes that arrive on paper at the pharmacy’s fax machine. These computer-generated, faxed prescriptions will not be in compliance with the new regulations, and they fail to achieve the patient safety improvements that true e-prescribing offers. The www.GetRxConnected.com web site will help physicians that currently have EMRs that fax or print prescriptions, as well as those without EMRs.

A visit to www.GetRxConnected.com can provide you with more detail on these benefits and other valuable information including:

· Information on the benefits of e-prescribing/pharmacy connectivity, including the business case and social case for e-prescribing.

· An estimate of the value of the time your practice spends annually managing prescription renewal requests by phone/fax – time better spent on patient care, or other reimbursable activity.

· A listing of pharmacies in your area that can exchange prescription information with your practice electronically.

· The value of e-prescribing for your patients.

Your efforts to improve the safety and efficiency of the prescribing process can make a real contribution to reducing patient risk. Please take a few minutes and visit www.GetRxConnected.com. It will be time well spent.