CMS makes e-prescribing simple

When was the last time the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) made anything simple? Good question. Well, now they have published a document called "2009 Electronic Prescribing (E-Prescribing) Incentive Program Made Simple." It's just four pages, three questions, two tables and three steps, two of which you have to repeat a few hundred times. Simple, huh?

All you have to do is bill one of 33 CPT and G codes plus one of another set of three G codes for at least 50 percent of your patients, hope that CMS corrects the problems associated with the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) last year and rake in the incentive payments.

OK. I recognize that, even as simple as that sounds, it may not tempt you. But that doesn't make e-prescribing a bad deal in itself, as Kenneth Adler's article in our current issue argues. If you're not already doing e-prescribing, it's at least worth a look. And once you're up and running with it, you can decide whether you want to simplify your life by going for the Medicare incentive.

Posted at 04:46PM Jan 29, 2009 by Bob Edsall  |  Comments[5]