AHRQ Takes a Look at E-Prescribing Issues

According tot his post on FierceHealthIT the AHRQ wants to know how many medical practices have successfully implemented functional e-prescribing systems and what factors hurt and help adoption.

The biggest problem that the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has encountered is that most e-prescribing systems do not have the same features, and so rolling out with a national system might be difficult. Also, pharmacies are having trouble with e-prescribing software and integrating it into workflow. Because of this, the AHRQ is planning to conduct a 2 year survey which will include physicians, medical directors, IT administrators, pharmacists and other relevant staff members at 110 organizations as participants.

Electronic prescription physicians to receive bonus

According to this article at the Kaiser Network reports that Medicare will start giving bonuses to physicians who begin to use electronic prescriptions.

This month, Medicare began to pay physicians bonuses for the use of e-prescribing, and some private health plans have begun to offer extra reimbursements to physicians who adopt the practice. In addition, a coalition of technology companies has begun to provide e-prescribing software at no cost to encourage physicians to adopt the practice.