E-Prescribing
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Blog
The Stick is Coming! But it's Easy to Avoid the Penalties!
DrFirst
February 7, 2011
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1
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If you aren’t familiar with the federal government’s eRX Incentive Program, aka MIPPA, it offers eligible physicians a nice carrot to switch to e-prescribing – extra funds equaling up to 2% of their yearly Medicare Part B billing claims.
But the time of rewards and no punishment is drawing to a close! Physicians need to be made aware that there is a “stick” that comes with the program and it’s coming soon. Starting in 2012, some doctors will see a payment reduction instead. And they have just a few months this year to do something about it: deploy an e-prescribing solution and submit at least 10 electronic prescriptions by June 30th, 2011.
Group practices reporting as GRPO I or GRPO II practices have to demonstrate all prescriptions were electronically submitted in this time period.
Otherwise, physicians are looking at a 1% Medicare Part B payment reduction in 2012; 1.5% in 2013; and 2% in 2014 and beyond, unless they demonstrate one of two “hardship” factors – that they practice in a rural area without sufficient high speed Internet access, or without available pharmacies to process e-prescriptions.
But there is no need to worry. DrFirst’s Rcopia e-prescribing solution meets the MIPPA requirements and costs just $2 a day. If you do not currently use a fully certified EHR and are looking for an even greater return on investment, consider Rcopia-MU (Meaningful Use). It meets all requirements for MIPPA, PQRI and ARRA and costs less than $7 a day.
Do the math – if you bill a considerable amount in Medicare Part B claims, the incentive money you can get from e-prescribing can be up to 8x times as much – or more – than the cost to deploy a DrFirst e-prescribing solution. This represents a low cost, low risk investment in the most widely supported and utilized functionality of modern clinical information technology.
Remember, the window for 2012 closes on June 30th, 2011 to document e-prescribing use to avoid the penalties and get the incentive payments instead. Find out how DrFirst can get you there by contacting us at sales@drfirst.com
